Rectification
by FanFictionFan9876
Summary: AU. The war is over. The death toll was high, on both sides. Harry goes back in time to save everyone he couldn't, maybe change events for the better, and do something that he couldn't do the first time. Set after OOTP. T for safety, may become M for future chapters, please be warned. A HARRY/HERMIONE STORY! Don't like? Don't read!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

The summer had started off bright and blue. Cloudless with relentless sun. Harry couldn't bring himself to enjoy it though. Just weeks before, his godfather, Sirius Black had died. It had been all his fault. Harry had believed the fake visions that Voldemort had made him see.

He had run after his godfather, and endangered his friends as well. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna had all been hurt. Luckily none of them had been killed.

 _Unlike Sirius,_ he thought to himself bitterly.

He dragged his feet as he walked, and the bottoms of his worn out shoes scrapped the asphalt on the playground. The swings that Dudley and his gang had broken the previous summer still hadn't been repaired, but the only one to survive the "purge" was still hanging resolutely from the metal frame.

Harry sat down on the swing, and rocked to and fro, his mind still on Sirius. In fact, the only time Harry's mind allowed him a respite from the guilt he felt at Sirius' death was to feel guilty that he had very nearly gotten his friends killed too.

"What was I thinking?" Harry muttered bitterly to himself. "They're all lucky to be alive."

He felts pangs in his stomach as he thought about his friend's and their narrow escape in the Department of Mysteries. Ron and the tentacled brains. Ginny's broken ankle. Neville's broken nose. Luna hadn't been badly hurt, but she had felt the effects of a powerful close range stunner for days. And Hermione... She had been lucky that Dolohov's curse was all the weaker because he had not been able to utter the spell. It was still a powerful, and potentially lethal, curse and she had been caught flush with it.

"I'm so sorry Hermione," Harry groaned and he let his head rest in his hands.

His grief and self pity masked the fact that the pang he had felt at remembering Hermione's fate was located somewhere else, somewhere deeper.

Night was beginning to fall now. It was still warm, and the street lights had blinked, rather lazily, into life. Harry slipped off the swing and made to head back to Number Four Privet Drive. He trudged the familiar route back to his aunt and uncle's house. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice a figure follow him as he turned into Magnolia Crescent.

Harry continued to walk, his mind clearly on other things, but stopped when he reached the point where he had, unknowingly at the time, seen his godfather for the first time. It had been a frightening experience. Harry had seen the hulking, snarling figure of Sirius' animagus form. Not to mention, he'd also been nearly run over by the Knight Bus after falling over his trunk.

Continuing on his route to Number Four, Harry was still unaware of the shadowy figure following him. A small noise made him turn around. Harry was in the alleyway where he and Dudley had been attacked by the Dementors, the previous summer. The scuff of a shoe's sole caught Harry's attention and he whipped around.

There was nothing there. Harry was confused. He knew that something had made a noise, but he couldn't see anything. Cautiously, he pulled out his wand, ready for a fight. His whole body tensed, as he scanned the alleyway. A chill of something shot down his spine, and he shivered slightly. The heat of the day had quickly dispersed.

Harry was instantly worried about the presence of Dementors. After the previous summer's encounter, he wouldn't be at all surprised if they did turn up. He looked up, and he let out a small sigh of relief as he could still see the stars twinkle and sparkle above him. His gaze fell back down to the alleyway, and he squinted through his glasses, trying to see something. However, there was nothing there.

Slightly frustrated, Harry turned around pocketed his wand and carried on back to Number Four. Suddenly, a jet of bright red light illuminated the alley. Harry had a brief moment of realisation before unconsciousness took him. He crumpled to the dirty ground, his wand still poking out the top of his overlarge jeans.

Behind him, a figure appeared out of nowhere. It was as if the figure had walked through a veneer of invisibility. It held a wand aloft, the tip of it alight.

'Nox,' the figure said croakily.

The man stumped towards Harry, before slowly kneeling down and checking on him.

'Not hurt in any way,' the man muttered. 'Good. I never did like being hit from behind.'

The man groaned as he got to his feet, and pointed his wand at the unconscious Harry.

Harry's body rose into a standing position, and the man took a firm grip of his arm. Awkwardly, the man twirled something silvery over them, and they instantly vanished. All was quiet for a moment, before a slight pop momentarily filled the air.

Almost instantly, there was another pop inside Harry's bedroom. Harry and the man appeared out of nowhere, as something silvery was pulled off them.

Hedwig clicked her beak in alarm and protest at the sight of Harry's unconsciousness. The man carefully laid him down on the bed and turned to the owl, who was starting to make quite the racket. He covered the distance in two steps and leant over to the familiar.

'Hello girl,' he muttered. 'It's good to see you again.'

Hedwig's amber eyes stared up into the man's face. Something like recognition crossed her features and she quietened instantly.

The man stumped over to the wardrobe and opened it. His reflection greeted him. For a moment, he took in the black hair, green eyes and prematurely lined face, before his gaze flitted up for the briefest moment to the outline of a lightening bolt shaped scar. Harry pulled his gaze from the reflection and started to pull his clothes out of his wardrobe.

He chucked the clothes onto the bed, and within minutes had emptied the wardrobe. Harry pulled his trunk from beneath his bed and opened it. He pulled his wand from a pocket inside his jacket and pointed it at the trunk. Waves of energy rippled over it, and numerous locks appeared on the side. Within a couple of minutes, he was finished and Harry inspected his handiwork. There were numerous compartments now, and one of them contained a large, comfortable room. The large room contained a four poster bed, not unlike Harry's from Hogwarts.

The older Harry levitated his younger self into the trunk and onto the four poster bed. Once he was sure his younger self was comfortable, Harry climbed out of the trunk and locked that compartment with a few well chosen spells. He moved back to the wardrobe and the mirror. Pointing his wand at his face, he proceeded to magically alter his features, in order to match his younger self.

Within moments, Harry found himself staring at his younger self. He found it extremely disconcerting. The lack of age lines and scars looked odd. He raised a hand and ran his fingertips over his ever-so slightly roughened cheek. Memories of his seventeen birthday flood his mind, before he shook himself and remembered that it hadn't happened yet. At least to his younger self, anyway.

He glanced at the repaired alarm clock and sighed.

'I suppose I should get some sleep,' Harry muttered to himself.

He clicked the lamp light off, crawled onto the lumpy bed and within moments had fallen asleep.

The next morning, he was rudely woken by the customary bellow up the stairs.

'Boy!'

Harry's eyes bolted open. He almost felt a pang of nostalgia at the sound. Before everything had happened.

'Boy!' Uncle Vernon roared up the stairs. 'Get down here now!'

Harry sighed, swung his legs off the bed, and quickly changed. It had been a few years, to Harry, since he had worn Dudley's overlarge hand-me-downs. It took a moment for Harry to become re-accustomed to the annoying way the sleeves kept dropping past the elbow, even though he'd folded them up enough times.

Opening his door, he shuffled along the hallway, and trudged down the stairs. Almost immediately, the sight of his massive Uncle came into view.

'You took your time!' Vernon blustered. 'Get into the kitchen and make breakfast!'

Harry sighed as his Uncle stomped back into the kitchen table, before settling himself into a chair at the kitchen table. He knew what his mission was, and it, most definitely, was not making the Dursley's breakfast. He, Harry, had managed to go back in time in order to save lives and alter his present, not go back and carry on being the Dursley's indentured slave.

'No,' Harry said as he walked into the kitchen, a steeliness filling his green eyes as he glared at them.

'What?' Vernon thundered. 'You'll do as we say, or...'

'Or what?' Harry said, his voice dangerously low. 'You'll do what?'

Vernon burst to his feet, his hands raised in gigantic fists. He advanced on Harry, who merely stood his ground and pulled out his wand.

'You can't pull that trick on us,' Vernon sneered. 'They'll expel you from the freak school of yours.'

'Well,' Harry spoke calmly, but he could feel anger radiate from his body. 'How do you know the Ministry haven't changed the rules. They believe that Voldemort's back now. Maybe they've allowed me to use magic outside of school to protect myself.'

Vernon stopped mid-step, his face a disgustingly blotchy amalgamation of purple anger and pale cream fear. It was clear to Harry that his Uncle felt both fear and anger in equal measure. It gave him a tiny amount of vindictive pleasure to have stupefied his Uncle so completely, without using magic.

'Maybe,' Harry carried on, his voice becoming low again. 'They won't even know it was me that cast the magic.'

Petunia and Dudley walked into scene at that moment. Petunia screamed and tried to shield Dudley, even though Harry's complete focus was directed at Vernon.

'Want to try me?' Harry asked. When he received no reply, he continued, his voice becoming pleasant. 'Okay then, I'll send owls off to my friends, asking them to come and get me. Hopefully they'll be here within a day or two.'

With that, Harry turned on his heel, walked up the stairs and into his room. He opened an empty compartment in his trunk and opened his wardrobe, where his books and broomstick resided. He pointed his wand at his clothes, and spell books, and they instantly shot into the trunk, landing higgledy-piggledy inside.

Hedwig stared at him with curious interest. She hadn't ever seen Harry look so... Confident. He grabbed the bag of owl treats and fed her some. She gobbled them up happily and hooted at him, before nipping his finger almost lovingly.

'I know girl. I hate it here too. Don't worry, with any luck, we'll be gone soon. I just need you to deliver a couple of letters for me. One is for Ron, and the other is for Hermione. Hang on, I'll just write them.'

Harry sat down at the desk and grabbed a spare roll of parchment. He grabbed the quill he been bought by Hermione for Christmas in their second year, and dipped it into an ink bottle. He dashed off the same note to each of them. He altered Hermione's without thinking. Ron's was a standard note, written in a fast scribble, whereas Harry had written her note with unnoticed care and deliberation.

 _Dear Hermione, I need to be rescued from the Dursley's. It's an utter nightmare here as always. I've asked Ron the same thing, but it might take a while for all the unnecessary preparations to be put in place. Hope you can help me. Love, Harry._

He folded the notes into two separate envelopes and tied them to Hedwig's leg. He opened the window and carried her over to it. With momentary pressure, the beautiful snowy owl took to the skies. Harry sighed and watched her fly away. Life at Privet Drive without her would be boring, as it always was, but hopefully the Order would come and rescue him and they would be reunited at the Burrow within a couple of days.

Harry spent the morning packing away his things, and reading one of the books he had been given for Christmas the previous year. Harry sat on his bed, flicking through the pages. He knew it like the back of his hand, but it allowed his mind to wander and reminisce on the better times he had known.

Hermione kept pushing to the front of his memories and it was hours before Harry broke out of his reverie. The cat flap that Uncle Vernon had installed four summers ago, rattled as a plate of soggy vegetables was pushed into his room. Harry didn't much care for the food. Over the years, food deprivation had become almost a constant companion, almost as much as Hermione had.

Tears began to sting his eyes as he thought about the last time he had seen her. Flashes of green light, her frenetic movements and her sacrifice. Harry tried to ball up all the emotions and put them into the back of his mind but he couldn't. The tears didn't stop. He couldn't hold back. He couldn't stop feeling the pain of losing her. But, he hadn't lost her, he told himself. She was alive. He wouldn't let anything happened to her this time.

He heard the distant sound of a doorbell ringing, and his Uncle's voice stutter into silence. Harry ignored it, and rolled over, tears streaming down his cheeks. A knock on his door rudely butted into his grief. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sat up.

'What?' Harry asked, and was thankful that his voice hadn't cracked.

'Harry?' It was Hermione's voice.

Harry bolted to the door, wrenched it open and stared at the brown eyed, bushy haired young woman in front of him. Without thinking, Harry pulled her into an extremely tight hug. She hugged him back.

'Well, it's good to see you too,' Hermione giggled, and the sound was music to Harry's ears.

He continued to hold onto her, as if holding on for dear life. He took in the pressure of her body against his, the softness of her skin, her smell, coconut, and the warmth of her embrace. They stood stock still, for a good few minutes, before Hermione patted him on the back.

'Err, Harry,' she whispered. 'I can't breathe.'

Harry let her go, and held her at arms length, taking in the sight of her beaming face. Her features were just as he remembered from all those years ago. Her big, brown eyes and her bushy hair were just the same as they always were. There was a lack of scarring on her cheek and neck. Her hands were warm and soft, and free from the seemingly customary blood that always seemed to coat them. She looked whole.

'Are you okay?' Hermione asked. 'You've never greeted me so, enthusiastically, before.'

'It's really good to see you,' Harry said. He knew he was gushing, but he didn't care.

'It's as if you haven't seen me for years,' she joked, and Harry smiled back weakly.

'Is it just you?' Harry asked, and Hermione shook her head.

'No, Ron, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Kingsley and Mr Weasley are here with me. We all wanted to come get you. Mrs Weasley tried to stop me and Ron from coming, as we're underage. But, we wanted to come and get you.'

'It really is good to see you,' Harry gushed, and Hermione giggled and slipped her hand into his before leading him down the stairs.

Hermione led him into the kitchen where Ron, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Kingsley and Mr Weasley were all waiting.

'Hi Harry,' Ron said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. 'You okay?'

'Now I am,' Harry said happily.

'All packed Potter?' Mad-Eye growled.

'Near enough,' Harry said. 'I've just got a couple of things to put away. I didn't know you were coming so soon. I only sent Hedwig this morning.'

'Hedwig delivered your note to me first,' Hermione said. 'I used the galleon from the DA to message Ron, who sorted it out with the Order.'

'Brilliant,' Harry said, smiling at her and squeezing her hand. She beamed back at him.

'Well, come along Potter. We haven't got all night,' Moody growled.

Harry nodded at him, removed his hand from Hermione's and raced back up to his room. He grabbed the book from the bed, chucked it into his trunk, checked for anything else he may have missed and then shut and locked it. He heaved it, along with Hedwig's empty cage, down the stairs into the hallway, where everyone was waiting for him.

'You'll be taking him for good, I take it?' Uncle Vernon growled from the lounge doorway. As one, the wizards turned to face him. 'I won't have him in my house ever again!'

'Mr Dursley,' Arthur tried to reason. 'Harry must come back to this house only once more. Once he is of age, then he will be free to the leave this house and never come back.'

'I don't care,' Vernon snarled. 'I don't want that freak in my house ever again.'

Hermione bristled. Harry grabbed her hand, but she ignored him.

'How dare you call Harry a freak!' Hermione shrieked at him.

'He's constantly put my family in danger!' Vernon blustered angrily at her.

'He's saved your family you moron,' Hermione yelled back. 'He saved your son from the Dementor's kiss!'

'I have yet to see any evidence that these Dismembers even exist!'

'Aunt Petunia told you that they do,' Harry interrupted, he covertly started to stroke the back of Hermione's hand with his thumb. 'If you don't believe her, then you won't believe any of us.'

He turned to Moody.

'Can we go?'

'Yes, yes,' Moody replied gruffly. 'Side-along apparation. You'll be with me, Ron with Arthur and Hermione with Kingsley.'

'No,' Harry said quickly. 'I'll go with Kingsley. Hermione can go with you.'

They all stared at him.

'Am I not good enough for you Potter?' Moody asked, the trace of a grin on his face.

'The Ministry is less likely to do anything to me if I have to use magic,' Harry reasoned carefully. They were all staring at him with odd expressions on their faces. 'I'd just prefer it if one of the Ministry's best ever Aurors was with an underage friend of mine. No offence Kingsley.'

He glanced at Kingsley who didn't look offended.

'Very well,' Moody snapped. 'Kingsley with Potter. I'll apparate with Miss Granger. Come on, let's get out of here.'

They stepped outside, with Remus and Tonks carrying Harry's things.

'On three,' Moody growled, Hermione's arm in a painful grip. Harry grabbed Kingsley's elbow.

'One.' Harry glanced at Hermione, who looked back, a quizzical expression on her face.

'Two.' Harry nodded at her. She turned to face forward.

'Three.'

As one, the eight of them turned on the spot and disapparated with loud cracks. After the momentary tightness and lack of oxygen, they appeared outside the Burrow. Harry let go of Kingsley's arm and the group walked through the Burrow's yard, and through the front door.

Molly Weasley was waiting for them in the kitchen. Harry could smell something delicious cooking, and his stomach growled.

'You'll have to wait a while for dinner dears,' she smiled warmly at them. 'It's not quite ready yet, but once the meeting is over, we'll eat. Ron, why don't you show Harry upstairs.'

Ron nodded, and lead Harry and Hermione up the stairs, all three of them awkwardly carrying Harry's trunk. Finally, they made it up to Ron's room, where a small camp bed had been erected for Harry to sleep on.

'It must have been bad if you sent us a plea for help after only twelve days,' Hermione said.

'I know what was in that prophecy,' Harry said bluntly. He turned around to face Ron and Hermione, who looked shocked.

'But it was destroyed,' Ron said. 'How could you know?'

'It was just a record,' Harry explained. 'Dumbledore was told the prophecy.'

'Who by?' Hermione asked.

'Professor Trelawny,' Harry said, and Hermione looked shocked.

'No,' Hermione scoffed, as if daring Harry to reveal a joke. 'Trelawny actually predicted something?'

'That's not the important thing Hermione,' Harry told her. 'It's what she prophesied.'

He sighed heavily before continuing.

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not... Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies,' Harry recited, his eyes downcast. He didn't want to look at their faces. 'Dumbledore heard it when he interviewed Trelawny in the Hog's Head.'

'So...' Ron said slowly. 'Either you have to kill Voldemort or...'

'Yeah,' Harry said, still not looking up at them. 'One of us has to die.'

He finally looked up and saw their expressions. Ron looked nauseous, but Hermione's face was almost unreadable. However, Harry knew her far better than she thought, or knew, he did. She was trying to disguise her unbridled terror. The idea that Harry or Voldemort would end up killing the other was horrifying to her.

'This doesn't mean that I'm going to die,' Harry said hastily. 'Dumbledore said that I am not bound by the prophecy, but because Voldemort chooses to follow it's instructions then it will come down to one of us killing the other. I have time. I don't know how much, but I do. I need to become better. I need to learn more spells, or anything that will help me survive.'

Harry knew that what he was saying was more true than he was willing to admit. He hadn't been good enough the first time. He had a head start now. He knew what was going to happen, and how he could stop it.

'How long until we get back to Hogwarts?' Harry asked Hermione.

'Just over a month and a half,' she said immediately. 'Why?'

'I need you to go over with me as much as we can. Protective spells, curses, jinxes and hexes. You're the brightest witch I know. Anything you can do will help me.'

Hermione beamed at him and nodded. Ron stepped forward.

'What about me?' He had a hopeful look on his face, and Harry considered him for a moment. The future Ron hadn't committed all of those atrocities yet. He hadn't yet become an enemy. Harry decided that in order to help Ron avoid his future fate, he had to give him a chance.

'When we get to Hogwarts, we need to plan things. I'm also going to need a duelling partner. No going easy either. I want to get books out of the restricted section. I can use the Room of Requirement to practice some more of the dangerous spells, but I need help with real combat. It's one thing to fire spells at a dummy who can't fight back.'

'Okay,' Ron said enthusiastically. 'If I start work on it now, I might be able to come up with a few strategies in fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We need to be more prepared than when we went to the Ministry..'

His voice died in his throat. The Ministry had been where Sirius had died.

'It's fine,' Harry said gruffly. 'You're right. We need to be better prepared. I'm going to ask Dumbledore for Occlumency lessons. I need them. I don't want a repeat of what happened last year.'

Harry turned back to Hermione.

'I'm going to need your help with planning some lessons for the DA. Even with Umbridge gone, we're going to need more people than ever armed and able to defend themselves. We can use the books that Lupin and Sirius got me for Christmas. I've been reading them, and there's a lot of good stuff in them.'

Hermione nodded again. Her eyes twinkled with something, but Harry couldn't quite tell what it was.

Mrs Weasley's voice echoed up the stairs, and Ron made to leave. Harry turned to follow him, but Hermione grabbed his wrist.

'Got a minute?' She asked, and Harry nodded.

Ron gave them a quick look before carrying on out of the room and down the stairs. Hermione closed the door behind him. Harry sat down on the edge of Ron's bed.

'Harry,' she said firmly, as steeling herself, taking a step towards him. 'I'm worried...'

'You don't need to worry Hermione,' Harry said quickly. 'We'll be prepared for anything Voldemort can throw at us.'

'It's not that,' she said slowly. 'I'm worried about this prophecy. If one of you is destined to kill the other...'

'Hermione,' Harry said firmly, grabbing both of her hands. His thumbs stroked the backs of her soft hands. 'I'm not going to die. I'm going to be ready for him. He's not going to know what hit him.'

Harry grinned up at her and he could see her fighting the urge to smile back.

'One more thing,' she said, and she extracted a hand from his and pulled out his note to her from her pocket. 'This letter...'

'What about it?' Harry asked quizzically.

'You signed it, love Harry,' she said.

'So...' Harry said blankly.

'You've never signed it like that before.'

'Oh,' Harry said meekly. 'Well... I just...'

Something flitted across her face for a second.

'It's fine,' she said levelly. 'I was just surprised.'

'Hermione, you're my best friend,' Harry told her sincerely.

'I'm not,' she muttered back. 'Ron is.'

'You're both my best friend, but for different reasons. I love my best friends.'

Hermione grinned at him, and they heard Mrs Weasley's voice race up the stairs again.

'Dinner must be ready,' Hermione said.

'Yeah,' Harry said softly. 'We should go down.'

Hermione nodded and bowed her head before opening the door and heading down to the kitchen. Harry followed her.

'What took you two so long?' Ron asked, as he sat down next to George.

'Talking,' Hermione said, as she sat down next to Ginny. Harry sat on Hermione's other side as Mrs Weasley placed a large plate of chicken and ham pie in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

Also, this is going to be a slow-burn to Harry/Hermione. There's too much for me to write before jumping in, shall we say.

The next few days, for Harry, were filled with reading and surprise quizzes from Hermione. Hedwig appeared in Ron's room a couple of hours after Harry's arrival, Ron's note still attached to her leg. The morning after his arrival, he and Hermione had grabbed all of the books that they thought they'd need, and had gone through every spell that looked like it might be useful in the fight against Voldemort.

Mrs Weasley had tried to ask them what they were up to, but she had been rebuffed by their jointly engrossed silence. Ginny and Ron had tried to convince Harry that he needed fresh air, but Harry always waved them off and continued to research with Hermione.

On the rare occasions that he wasn't outside practicing Quidditch, Ron was to be found with Harry and Hermione helping with preparing DA lessons and talking with Harry about strategies on fighting Death Eaters and Voldemort. It turned out that Ron's brilliance at chess easily translated into sound tactical thinking. Harry found himself thinking less and less of the future Ron, and began to think about what type of man Ron would become in this, hopefully new, timeline.

About a week into Harry's stay, three owls brought Harry, Ron and Hermione's their O.W.L. results. They were sat at the kitchen table, tucking into an early breakfast, which had become customary during Harry's latest stay at the Burrow, when the owls soared into the kitchen, dropped three envelopes onto the table and soared back out again.

Their plates of eggs and bacon lay forgotten as Harry, Ron and Hermione each dived for their own envelope. Harry hadn't forgotten his OWL results, but he still wondered if they had changed. Hermione's hands were shaking so much, that her envelope remained unopened, as it trembled in her grasp.

Harry put his envelope down, delicately took hers out of her grasp, laid it next to his and held her quivering hands in his own. He stared into her eyes, and she eventually stopped shaking.

'You are the brightest witch of the age,' he said firmly. 'You have done brilliantly in these tests. I know it. Just open the envelope and see. They'll be all Outstandings.'

He grinned at her and she moaned.

'Don't say that,' she whispered. 'Don't say that. I've failed everything.'

'Hey,' Harry said, diverting her attention back to him. His thumbs stroked the backs of her hands. She took a deep breath and eventually stopped shaking. 'You PASSED! Hermione Granger with ten Outstanding O. . Just see for yourself.'

Slowly, she nodded and he let go of her hands. Harry grabbed her envelope and handed it to her. He grabbed his own and all three of them opened the parchment envelopes at the same time.

There was a tense silence. Harry scanned down his results. He had achieved an Outstanding in Defence Against The Dark Arts, and Exceeds Expectations in Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. There were Acceptable grades in Potions and Astronomy. The last two subjects had a green 'P' next to each one. He didn't care though. History of Magic and Divination weren't exactly high on his list of priorities right now. He needed to be prepared for Voldemort, and he highly doubted whether tea leaves or goblin riots would help him.

Harry looked up to see Ron grinning at him.

'Outstanding in Defence and an E in Charms and Transfiguration. A's in Care of Magical Creatures, Potions and Herbology. Not bad, eh?'

'Nope,' Harry said. 'I got an O, four E's, and two A's.'

There was silence behind them. Hermione had sat down in her chair, staring at her results.

'You didn't actually fail everything did you?' Ron asked her incredulously.

'Don't be stupid,' Harry scoffed. He made his way behind her, and leant forward to read her results. 'Yep. O's in Defence; Transfiguration; Charms; Herbology; Potions; Astronomy; History of Magic; Care of Magical Creatures; Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Perfect ten. Congratulations Hermione.'

He wrapped her in a one armed hug, and she choked out a relieved chuckle.

'We're officially N.E.W.T students now,' Ron said happily as he sat back down and tucked back into his breakfast. 'Harry, I've come up with a couple of new ideas. Maybe we can run through them later?'

'Sure,' Harry said, as he too sat back down. 'I was going to go over different stunning hexes with Hermione this morning, but after lunch I should be free.'

'Brilliant,' Ron said enthusiastically, and he shovelled a large amount of scrambled egg into his mouth.

'What are you two planning?' Mrs Weasley asked snidely, as she walked in. It was only then that she saw their O.W.L results lying on the table. 'Oh your results have come? Well, how did you do?'

'Six O.W.L's,' Ron said thickly.

'Seven,' Harry told her, his gaze nor focus shifting from his plate.

'What about you Hermione?' Mrs Weasley looked at her inquiringly. Harry glanced at her, and was surprised to see that she hadn't moved.

'She got ten,' Harry told Mrs Weasley. 'Are you okay Hermione?'

'I passed,' she said weakly.

'Yep,' Ron said thickly. 'You passed, as we all knew we would.'

She seemed to come out of a trance and looked at Harry.

'Can I borrow Hedwig? I want to tell Mum and Dad about my results.' Her voice was oddly flat, expressionless.

'Sure,' Harry said worriedly. 'She should be upstairs with Pig.'

'Thanks,' she said, and she stood up, abandoned her half finished breakfast and headed upstairs.

'She okay?' Ron asked through a mouthful of bacon.

'I'm going to check,' Harry said, suspicious.

He followed Hermione's footsteps out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He withdrew his wand and silently followed her into Ron's room. Harry watched her as she silently grabbed a spare bit of parchment from Ron's desk, grabbed one of Harry's spare quills and began to scribble a note to her parents. When she was done, she tied the note to Hedwig's leg and guided her to the window. It was only after Hedwig took off, did Harry clear his throat. Hermione jumped at the noise.

'Oh, Harry,' she gasped. 'You surprised me.'

'Sorry,' Harry said, pocketing his wand. 'Are you sure you're okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Why?'

'Well, you've seemed pretty out of it since you got your letter.'

'It's only really starting to sink in,' she said, as she sat down on Ron's bed, Harry joined her. 'I didn't fail everything.'

'Nope. You passed everything.'

'You said I would.'

'You should listen to me more often then,' Harry joked.

'I always listen to you,' she said quietly.

'I know you do,' he said reassuringly. 'That's why I trust your judgement the most.'

'You didn't last term.' She had said it baldly, and it stung Harry to hear the hurt in her voice. 'You didn't listen to me before we went to the Ministry.'

'I know,' Harry replied. 'I know Hermione. I should have listened to you. I should have checked more thoroughly. It's my fault that Sirius died. It's my fault that you nearly died, and that the others got hurt too.'

'Harry,' Hermione gasped, her face was horror-stricken. 'No, I didn't mean that! It wasn't your fault that he died.'

'It was Hermione,' Harry insisted. 'If I had listened to you, I wouldn't have gone to the Ministry. Sirius wouldn't have gone after me and died fighting Bellatrix Lestrange.'

'Harry, it wasn't your fault that he died! It was Bellatrix Lestrange's. She killed him. She did it! Not you!'

Harry shook his head.

'I have to be better Hermione,' he said. 'I have to be ready. We all have to. We're going to be in the war of our lives soon enough. Voldemort needs to be stopped. I won't have anyone else die for me, so I can live. I know now what it will take to stop him. I know that people can't die for me anymore.'

'Harry, it was their choice to die for you,' she said softly. 'They chose to put your life above theirs because they loved you. You can't sully their memory by blaming yourself for their own sacrifice. Your mother died to save you because she loved you. Sirius died protecting you, because he loved you. Your father died to save you and your mother, because he loved the both of you. At the Ministry any one of us would have died to save you, because we love you. Any sacrifice on our part is our choice. Not yours, Harry Potter.'

Her voice had become harder and more powerful as she had talked. He had started to believe her. He still didn't like the fact that they had sacrificed their lives for him, and he was as determined as ever to ensure that no one else had to die. One thing had registered more than anything she had said, however.

 _We love you._

It felt good to Harry, to hear those words come from her. It wouldn't have been the same if Mrs Weasley or Ginny had said it. It would have still been nice, but it was different coming from Hermione.

Harry stared at her, and she stared back at him, a fierceness in her eyes. The urge to tell her things that he needed to tell her, about all of his plans to stop the devastating effects of what was to happen was almost too much for him to handle. He yearned to kiss her, tell her with his actions that he loved her, but something held him back.

He couldn't tell her. Not yet anyway. He needed to complete certain tasks before allowing himself to tell Hermione that he loved her, who he really was, and why he had come back.

Harry reached out a hand and held hers tightly. She pulled her hand from his delicate grasp and pulled him into a hug. She held onto him as if he were about to be swept away by a river's current. Somehow, her strong hold seemed to break through Harry's facade. He could feel tears start to sting his eyes. He tried to keep the tears from falling.

'It's okay Harry,' she whispered. 'We love you. We're here for you.'

Flashes of Harry's past flitted through his mind and pushed the tears down his cheeks. The grief he had buried at Sirius' death broke through him, and he cried silently onto her shoulder. It felt like physical pain was torturing every nerve in his body. Harry swore that the Cruciatus Curse didn't hurt as much as this. Sirius had died for him. Ron, in Harry's future, had been swayed by Voldemort. Hermione had died to ensure that her and Harry's plan would be implemented. Neville; Ginny; Luna and hundreds of others had lain down their lives at they bravely fought the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

The memories of each death and betrayal washed over him, and he sobbed harder than ever. In his mind, he watched, again, in painful clarity, the battle where Ginny, Neville and Luna had all died. They had died fighting Voldemort himself. They fought so valiantly; so hard. The finality of the flashes of green light seemed to light the back's of Harry's eyelids, and he was glad that his face was buried into Hermione's slender shoulder.

Hermione held Harry tighter still, and rocked him from side to side, trying to soothe him as the sobs racked his body. The door opened, and Ron stared at them with a shocked expression on his face. Hermione looked up at him and shook her head. Ron, to his credit, nodded and quietly left the room, closing the door with a small clunk. She didn't make to move or disturb Harry, as he continued to cry.

In fact, she wondered if he had ever cried like this before. She was sure that he had buried the urge to weep long ago. The Dursley's brutality would have seen to that. Hate and resentment welled up inside her, as she deduced the hardships that her best friend had endured at their hands.

 _After all, he had only been a child. They had no idea,_ she thought bitterly. _He was a remarkable man._ _So selfless. So good._

Harry made to pull away from her, but she held him close. The tears and sobs had stopped and he hiccuped occasionally, but for the most part he remained silent, as they continued to hold onto each other. It might have been minutes, hours or days, Hermione didn't care, but they eventually broke apart. Harry held her shoulders in his hands, leant forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

'Thank you Hermione,' he whispered.

Hermione remained rooted to the spot, as Harry got off the bed and walked out of the room. Harry had never kissed her before. Something had happened to him since the Ministry. Her mind was in overdrive. He had definitely changed, she could see that. He had started to rub the backs of her hands with his thumbs. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that it calmed her down or reassured her. She'd never realised that he was doing it.

She thought back to the night that she and the Order had rescued Harry from the Dursley's house. Her shouting match with his Uncle Vernon was threatening to boil over. She could feel the magic in her bubble dangerously just below the surface of her skin. Harry had stroked the back of her hand, and she remembered calming down almost instantly, and feel the magic receded back into her body. When had he started doing that?

Then there was the letter. He had signed it with his love. He had never done that before. She wasn't complaining either. She had been surprised when she had read his letter. It had only been just over a week since they had gotten home, and he was already asking for help in escaping. Something in the letter, maybe the fact that he'd signed with his love, pushed Hermione to arrange his extraction from that hell-hole earlier than normal. Something had stirred within her when she had read it. She had even read it more than once, but she'd never tell anyone else that.

 _What about the kiss on the forehead?_ Hermione asked herself. _What did that mean?_

What did it mean? Did it mean that Harry saw her as a friend, and was just becoming more affectionate? Maybe, it meant that Harry felt more than friendship?

'You're over thinking this Hermione,' she whispered to herself. 'It was a kiss on the forehead. Not on the lips.'

 _Was that disappointment?_ Hermione asked herself. _Did she feel disappointed that he'd kissed her forehead, not her lips?_

She shook herself. She was being silly. Harry was her best friend. Right now, she was supposed to be downstairs helping him with going over stunning hexes. Maybe they'd be able to study the theory of targeting body parts.

Hermione jumped to her feet and raced down the stairs and into the kitchen, to find Ron still eating, and Harry poring over a book on counter-curses.

'Ready to go over stunning hexes?' Hermione asked him.

'All better then?' Ron asked her pointedly, and she nodded.

'Sure. I was wondering if...' Harry said, but Hermione interrupted.

'We could learn the theory behind targeted stunning hexes?' Hermione asked and Harry nodded.

'How'd you know?' Harry asked.

'Came to me while I was walking down the stairs,' she replied simply as she sat down next to him.

'Great,' Harry said. 'I think I've got the book here somewhere.'

'Have your Hogwarts letters come yet?' Mrs Weasley asked them, and they all shook their heads.

'Well, when they do, I'll pop into Diagon Alley and get your things for you.'

Something flashed across Harry's mind.

'No,' Harry said quietly.

'Excuse me, dear?' Mrs Weasley asked curiously.

'I'll get our things from Diagon Alley. There's no need...'

'Don't be silly dear,' Mrs Weasley chided softly. 'I don't mind...'

'No,' Harry said, this time there was more force in his voice. He had risen to his feet. Hermione and Ron stared at him. They'd never known him to quarrel with Mrs Weasley.

'Harry,' she said softly. 'I don't think it's safe...'

'I'll be perfectly fine, Molly,' he said without thinking. All three of them stared at him, shock on their faces. He'd never called Mrs Weasley, Molly, before. 'I will go. I can get Ginny's things as well. Write me a list, and I will get everything that we need.

'You will not go,' Mrs Weasley said sternly. 'It is too dangerous for you to go!'

'Molly, I am not your son.' Harry spoke so baldly, that it sounded as cold as ice.

'You're as good as,' Mrs Weasley replied hotly.

'I don't want you to get hurt if something happens!' Harry said, his voice rising as well.

'Harry, nothing is going to happen,' she tried to calm him down.

'If nothing is going to happen, then I don't see why you're objecting to me going instead of you!'

Mr Weasley, Fred and George had come running into the room at the sound of raised voices. Harry and Molly were stood facing each other. The sight was so bizarre, so jarring, that they stood in shock.

'I am eternally grateful for everything that you have done for me Molly, but I am perfectly capable of going to Diagon Alley alone to get my own school supplies. I have even offered to get Ron's, Hermione's and Ginny's things too.'

'You're still a child!' Molly shrieked at him, losing all control. 'You're not of age.'

'I might not be of age, but I am perfectly able to defend myself against Death Eaters!'

'What if You-Know-Who shows up?' Molly asked shrilly.

'I've survived before,' he said levelly.

Molly opened her mouth to argue back, but Mr Weasley stepped in front of her.

'Harry,' he said placatingly. 'We only care about your best interests...'

'I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me!' Harry roared at both Mr and Mrs Weasley. 'If there is a Death Eater attack, I do not want Molly to be hurt, or worse, because of me! I am perfectly capable of defending myself. I will make the trip as short as possible.'

Hermione stood up and put her hand on his shoulder.

'Harry,' she whispered. 'Let Mrs Weasley go.'

'No!' Harry roared again. 'No one else will die for me! No one else will be hurt because I didn't do what I should have done myself! Do you really think that I am the only orphan at Hogwarts? They go to Diagon Alley on their own, and I don't see why I shouldn't either.'

'But they don't have a target on their back,' Hermione reasoned softly.

'Hermione,' he pleaded, but she cut him off.

'Mrs Weasley will go to Diagon Alley and get our things. She has already said that she doesn't mind going.'

'What if Harry goes with Mum?' Fred piped up. 'That way Harry will be satisfied that Mum won't be hurt and Mum will be able to get your things with a bodyguard. It's not like the Ministry is going to punish Harry for underage magic, especially now that they realise a homicidal maniac has returned from the dead and is trying to hunt him down.'

'No,' Molly said fiercely. 'Harry should stay here!'

'I think it's a good idea,' Mr Weasley said, interrupting his wife. 'When the letters arrive, you and Molly can make a quick trip to Diagon Alley.'

Harry and Mrs Weasley stared at each other, willing the other to back down. Eventually, they both slowly nodded.

'Good,' Mr Weasley said softly. 'Now, I'm going back into the living room, I have a report to finish.'

'We're off to the shop,' George said. 'We were on our way out when we heard you two...'

'It was weird,' Fred said, and George nodded.

'Well, we'll see you guys soon,' George said, and with two loud cracks the twins disapparated.

Molly turned on her heel and left the kitchen. Harry stormed from the house and into the yard. Hermione made to follow him, but Ron held her back.

'Let me talk to him,' Ron said sternly, and she nodded.

Ron jogged after Harry, and called out to him across the yard.

'Hey!' Ron yelled, angrily. 'Since when do you speak to my mum like that?'

Harry rounded on him.

'I don't need to be molly-coddled,' Harry said coldly. Ron strode up to him.

'She's trying to look out for you,' he said hotly.

'I don't need...'

'Don't be so effing stupid!' Ron roared. 'You-Know-Who is trying to kill you!'

'I don't want Molly to be caught in the crossfire!'

'Since when do you call my mum, Molly?'

'It's her name isn't it?' Harry asked, his voice becoming cold again. Ron stared at him blankly.

'Yeah,' he said sheepishly. 'But, you've always called her Mrs Weasley. Never Molly before. Only Dad and members of the Order call her Molly. I think she was hoping you'd start to call her Mum too. Hermione too, now I come to think of it. She's only trying to keep you safe.'

'Because that worked out so effing well for everyone else right?' Harry shouted. Hermione was staring at them from the back door.

'Hey!' Ron shouted back. He maybe have been taller than Harry, but at that moment, it didn't look as if there was much in their heights. 'It was their god-damned choice! They did it for you! Get off your effing high horse and realise that they did it because they effing loved you! You've been talking about being better, and more prepared! I've seen you and Hermione working. Hell, I've been working my arse off trying to think of strategies and worst case scenarios, and how to combat them...'

'Yeah,' Harry snorted derisively. 'Quidditch must really help!'

Harry knew where his anger at Ron was coming from. Years of betrayal would do that to someone. He tried to think of Ron as he had known him before Voldemort had turned him. It was hard.

'I'll have you know that flying helps me think!' Ron fought back. 'I haven't played Quidditch with Ginny since the first day you arrived! I've only been thinking of stuff to help you in your fight against You-Know-Who.'

'There's your problem!' Harry shouted. 'It's not just my fight against Voldemort. It's all our fight. We all have to fight him.'

'Like we're going to be duelling with You-Know-Who,' Ron scoffed.

'How do you know?' Harry yelled into his face. 'You might be duelling Voldemort. If you fight him, and you're not ready, then you'll die!'

Ron took an involuntary step back from Harry.

'You need to get this into your skull, Ron. Voldemort isn't just my fight. He's yours. He's Hermione's. He's Ginny's. He's Dumbeldore's. Hell, he's everyone's. If we don't stop him, then he'll become unstoppable. HE WILL WIN! Do you really want that?'

Harry was breathing hard. He couldn't stop the anger or the feelings of betrayal and resentment boiling over.

'You have no effing clue what you're getting yourself into. You're going to have to take this fight more seriously, or...'

'Or what?' Ron asked defiantly.

'I'll do it without you,' Harry said viciously.

 _It's not like I've fought him without you before,_ he added in his head.

'You won't be able to beat him on your own,' Ron said.

'I won't be on my own,' Harry said belligerently. He turned to Hermione. 'Will I?'

'No,' Hermione said. Her voice was shaky but it had a hint of steel about it. 'I'll be with you.'

'Ron, you need to make a choice. Either take Voldemort seriously or don't bother at all.' Harry glared at Ron, who nodded.

'One more thing,' Ron said. 'I want to come with you and Mum to Diagon Alley. Just in case anything happens, y'know.'

Harry considered him for a moment. Hermione stepped through the doorway and made her way over to them.

'If Ron's going with you, then I am too,' she said. 'I don't like the idea of you being out in the open any more than Mrs Weasley does.'

'No,' Harry said shortly. He was going to keep Hermione out of harm's way at all costs.

'You can't stop me Harry Potter,' she said defiantly. He looked into her big brown eyes, and saw the determination swirling in them.

'I'll stun you if I have to,' he said seriously.

'I'd like to see you try,' she said pugnaciously. 'I'm going with you.'

The finality of her tone made Harry realise that it would be too futile to argue. He slowly nodded. She smiled at him.

Two days later their Hogwarts letters arrived. Three screech owls flew through an open window and dropped their letters in front of them. Harry opened his and began to read the customary letter reminding him that term would begin on September the first, and that he was to catch the Hogwarts Express from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at King's Cross station. The piece of parchment beneath it listed all the things that he would need for the coming year. Mrs Weasley bustled into the kitchen at that point, and saw the letters in their hands.

'Ah, good,' she said. 'Your letters have finally arrived. We can go to Diagon Alley when you've finished breakfast.'

She placed a large pile of freshly washed clothes on the kitchen table and left, Harry presumed, to get Ginny's list. Harry raced up the stairs and passed Mrs Weasley, as she entered Ginny's room, on his way to Ron's bedroom. He grabbed a roll of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink and dashed back downstairs.

'What was that all about?' Ron asked.

'I wanted to make a list. It will save taking our letters. Right so it's...' Harry replied absently as he began to copy down the books that they needed to collect and how many they would need.

From memory, he noted down that Ron would need new robes, as would he and Hermione. Mrs Weasley came into the kitchen holding Ginny's list, and Harry wordlessly took it from her and began adding to the list. Within a couple of minutes he was finished, and he folded up the scrap of parchment and tucked it into his pocket. He walked into the living room and turned back to face Mrs Weasley.

'Ready?'

'Yes dear. Just give me a minute.'

'Hang on,' Ron called. 'I've not finished.'

'Hurry up Ron,' Hermione scalded as she hurried over to stand next to Harry.

Her wand was in her pocket, and Harry could tell that her hand was wrapped around the handle. His wand was in the pocket of his jacket. It wasn't particularly warm, and he felt that a jacket would hide his own wand better. Ron came stumping into the room, shoving the last part of a sausage into his mouth. Mrs Weasley handed a bowl of Floo powder to Harry. He took a handful and chucked it into the flames, which rose high and turned green. He stepped inside and felt the flames lick him like warm breath.

'Diagon Alley,' he said clearly.

At once, and with a small pop, he disappeared. He spun in the flames and became extremely dizzy. He saw glimpses of people's homes flash past, before the Leaky Cauldron came into view. He stuck his arms out to stop himself falling, as he appeared in a flash of flame in the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace.

'Mr Potter,' Tom the barman wheezed at him. 'A pleasure as always.'

He grinned toothily at Harry who smiled.

'Hello Tom,' he said as Hermione spun into view. Harry stuck out an arm and caught her as she fell.

'I really don't like Floo powder,' she grumbled.

'You and me both,' Harry grinned at her.

A moment later, Ron and Mrs Weasley had appeared, and the latter ran her wand over them all, silently removing the soot and dirt from the trip through the fireplace.

'Right, okay,' she said when the last of the soot had been removed. 'Let's go. I don't want to be here too long. '

They strode from the empty and silent pub and into the yard around the back. Mrs Weasley took out her wand and tapped the correct brick, which opened up the arch into Diagon Alley. As they stepped through it, the bricks reassembled themselves into a wall. Gringotts, which was still as impressive as the first time Harry saw it, stood tall in the distance.

'I think that we should go to Gringotts first,' Mrs Weasley said. 'You first Harry. We'll follow.'

'No,' Harry whispered. 'Ron you follow us. Hermione, stay on Mrs Weasley's left side, and I'll stay on the right. Hands on wands. Just in case.'

There was a moment of surprise, but they cooperated. Mrs Weasley made to argue, but was quelled by a look from Harry. As a group, they marched through the almost deserted wizard's market place. Witches and wizards rushed past them, huddled and not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Harry was on alert, waiting for a curse to fly past them. He stared at everyone who passed them, wondering if an attack was imminent.

They reached the snowy white building without incident, and allowed the Gringotts goblins to run Probity Probes over them. Harry was slightly apprehensive. He had good reason to worry. Those probes would be able to unmask his entire deception and possibly unravel his plan. He silently reinforced the concealment charm on his body alterations, and prayed.

The Probity Probes didn't pick up on anything, and Harry inwardly let out a sigh of relief. They stepped through the doors and into the marble hallway, where goblins manned the telling stations. Mrs Weasley marched up to the nearest free goblin.

'Hello,' she said meekly. 'I wish to make a withdrawal from vault two hundred and nine. Harry Potter would like to make a withdrawal from his vault too. Oh, and Hermione needs to change over some Muggle money.'

Harry stepped forward.

'Just take us to vault six hundred and eighty seven please. I will take out what we need.'

'Harry,' Mrs Weasley started, but Harry interrupted her.

'Mrs Weasley, I want to make this trip as short as possible. It's not like I can't afford it. Think of it as a thank you for everything you've done for me.'

'You don't owe us anything, dear,' she said, as a small goblin strode over to them.

'I know,' Harry said quickly. He didn't feel much like starting another argument. 'I want to do this.'

'Harry...' Mrs Weasley pleaded, going a slight shade of pink, but Ron stepped forward.

'C'mon,' he murmured.

The goblin was waiting for them. It lead them through a set of double doors and into an underground chamber, where a cart was waiting for them. Harry ushered Mrs Weasley and Hermione into it first, and Ron clambered awkwardly into it, before Harry and the goblin got in. At once, the cart juddered into life and it was soon hurtling through the vast network of underground tunnels. Harry enjoyed the feel of the air rushing over his face. Mrs Weasley looked a little green, as did Ron. Hermione, however, had her eyes closed as if willing the ride to be over.

The cart stopped with such force that they were thrown forward a little. Harry caught Hermione just before she toppled out of the cart and onto the track.

'Vault six hundred and eighty seven,' the goblin said as he clambered out of the cart. 'Key please.'

Harry pulled his small golden key out of his jeans pocket and handed it to the goblin, who placed it into the vault's lock. He turned it, and there was a whoosh of clicking sounds, and the door opened silently. Harry filled his own money bag with galleons, sickles and knuts and turned to face Mrs Weasley, who still looked very uncomfortable. He reached over and took her money out of her hands and proceeded to fill it with money. There were still innumerable piles of gold, silver and bronze coins, and Harry doubted, or rather knew, that he wouldn't ever have to work.

Once Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione's money bags were full, they closed up the vault and got back in the cart.

'Anything left over is going straight back into your vault mate,' Ron muttered. 'I'm paying you back for this as well.'

'Don't bother,' Harry said carelessly. 'I don't care. I'm not going to miss it anyway.'

'I'm going to pay you back,' Ron said firmly, staring directly into Harry's eyes.

'Okay,' Harry said slowly, and this seemed to make Ron feel better.

Once the cart stopped again, they clambered out and gratefully made their way through the marble hall and out into the cloudy and overcast street. At once, Harry knew something was wrong.

'Take cover!' Harry yelled, grabbing Hermione around the waist and pulling her behind a pillar.

It was just in time. A bolt of blue light hit the golden doors and a loud gong sounded. The doors had dented by about a foot with the force of the spell. Ron had pulled Molly behind the next pillar, as curses rained down on them.

'I can see four to our left,' Ron shouted.

'Three to our right,' Harry replied loudly. He poked his head out from behind the pillar, but withdrew it quickly as several hexes blasted into the marble support. 'There's five in the street.'

'How are we going to get out of this?' Hermione asked, cowering slightly, as curses continued to blast into the marble protecting them.

'We're outnumbered three to one,' Ron shouted as he pulled his wand from his pocket. Hermione pulled hers out as well. Harry withdrew his, his mind racing.

An idea sprung into his mind out of nowhere.

'Remember that thing we read up on the other day, on expanding and manipulating shield charms?' Harry asked Hermione.

'Yeah,' she said uncertainly. 'I don't think it's going to help us against twelve death eaters though.'

'It doesn't matter,' Harry said quickly, shielding her head as they were showered in a dusting of marble. 'If you can expand it, I can reinforce it.'

She gave him a quizzical look.

'I've read ahead,' he explained. 'Do you trust me?'

She nodded and Harry turned to Ron.

'Ron, get your mum out of here. Get her to Leaky Cauldron. We'll meet you back at the Burrow,' Harry shouted.

'How are you two going to get out of here?' Ron bellowed back.

'Same as you. Floo powder,' Harry called out to him. 'On a count of three, cast shield charms and curse your way out if you have to.'

Ron nodded. Mrs Weasley looked petrified. Harry stared at her.

'You have to do this Molly,' he called firmly. 'Help Ron. He won't be able to see everything. We'll cover you as much as we can.'

Mrs Weasley nodded, and something like steel seemed to come over her. She whipped out her wand.

'One,' Harry called. They all readied themselves.

'Two,' he shouted and they braced themselves for the three count.

'Three!' Harry bellowed, and as one they moved. Ron whipped around the pillar and cast a shield charm which repelled a purple bolt of energy back upon it's caster. Mrs Weasley cast a stunning spell at the nearest Death Eater. It easily found it's mark.

Harry rolled around the pillar and raised his wand.

'Protego Maxima,' he shouted. Instantly a large, shimmering wall of energy erupted in front of him.

'Morpheom,' Hermione called out, her wand pointing at Harry's shield.

Her spell combined with Harry's and exploded outwards. Death Eaters were blasted backwards, and Hermione concentrated with all her might on the shape and structure of the shield so that it avoided hitting Ron or Mrs Weasley.

'Expelasis,' Harry shouted, and the shimmering energy shield seemed to harden like wax, before it solidified into a thick, reinforced glass like substance.

Spells blasted against the shield, but nothing seemed to penetrate it. Hermione had cast her spell well, they had a clear route to the Leaky Cauldron. The Death Eaters had either been stunned or were stuck behind the shield. They raced through the brick archway and into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry grabbed a handful of Floo powder, threw it into the flames and unceremoniously pushed Hermione into the flames.

Without missing a beat, she called out for the Burrow. Ron and Mrs Weasley followed her, before Harry entered the grate himself. As soon he had called out for the Burrow, he saw two large Death Eaters burst into the Leaky Cauldron. Within moments, Harry found himself in the Burrow's fireplace, being steadied by Ron's hand on his shoulder.

'Where did you learn to do that?' Ron gushed. 'That was incredible.'

'I read the books that Sirius and Lupin got me,' Harry replied. 'Me and Hermione had read up on manipulating shield charms and I put two and two together. Nothing in it really.'

'It looked really cool,' Ron grinned.

'It's a shame our Diagon Alley trip was cut short,' Harry said. 'How are we going to get our Hogwarts things now?'

'Don't worry about that,' Ron said, squeezing Harry's shoulder. 'We've got more than a month to figure it out. If we have to, we'll just have to use owl-ordering.'

'Yeah...' Harry said softly, his mind on other things. 'I don't get it though. How did the Death Eaters know we were there?'

'Lookouts?' Ron suggested.

'Probably,' Hermione said. 'They probably called for reinforcements as soon as they saw us and waited until we got out of Gringotts. That was a brilliant idea Harry.'

'That was an awesome piece of spell work, Hermione,' Harry grinned at her. 'You manipulated the shield charm brilliantly.'

'It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,' she said meekly.

'You still did it though,' he grinned down at her.

'You three are going to be in so much trouble,' Mrs Weasley interjected, slightly hysterical.

'Mum, calm down,' Ron said. 'We were nearly killed by Death Eaters. I don't think the Ministry are going to punish us for saving our own necks.'

Harry was confident Ron was right. The Ministry weren't about to charge two underage wizards with underage magic, when there were probably tens of witnesses to the Death Eater attack. Harry sighed unhappily. The attack would undoubtedly be in the morning's Daily Prophet.

 _Great,_ Harry thought sarcastically. _More publicity._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

Mr Weasley had come home later that night and told them that the Ministry weren't going to press charges for use of underage magic, and were still scouring the area for clues as to where the Death Eaters had gone. He had also come home with reports of people being hurt by the Death Eaters, but luckily, no one had died. Tom, the Leaky Cauldron's barman, was in St. Mungo's, but he was expected to make a full recovery.

In fact, Mr Weasley wanted to know more details of how Harry had fought so well against the Death Eaters. Ron was effusing to such an extent, it was starting to annoy Harry. It was if Ron had seen Harry raise the dead or something seemingly as extravagant. He kept glossing over the, to Harry at least, more salient fact that Hermione was the one to manipulate his shield charm. He had only amplified and solidified it enough, so that it gave them just enough time to escape.

After a while, Harry left Ron to retell the story to members of the Order who had arrived that evening, and he managed to extricate himself from the hubbub and slipped up the stairs and into Ron's room. To his surprise, Hermione was there as well.

'Hello,' she said warmly. 'I thought you'd leave to come up here at some point.'

'Yeah,' Harry sighed as he sat down next to her. 'It was getting a bit too much.'

'Ron seems a bit enamoured with that bit of magic we pulled off earlier, isn't he?'

'If you believe him, it was just me,' Harry said bitterly.

'He's just amazed. I mean, it was amazing. We've never been able to pull that off before.'

'Yeah,' Harry admitted. 'It was a long shot, but it worked didn't it?'

'Uh-huh,' Hermione nodded, grinning. She continued to watch him. 'What is it?'

'Ron,' Harry said, after a moment of silence. 'He's not including you when he tells people what happened. He seems to want to tell people that it was just me.'

'Well,' Hermione said but she hesitated, unsure of how to put what she was thinking into the right words. 'He's...'

'Never noticed just how brilliant you are?' Harry said baldly. He could feel the constant annoyance and anger at Ron start to bubble beneath his skin again.

'Well,' Hermione said meekly. 'I was going to say notice me, but...'

'It's true,' Harry said. 'You are brilliant. You're the most brilliant witch I have ever known or met.'

'Because you know so many witches,' Hermione joked, but Harry didn't smile.

'Hermione,' he lightly scolded. 'I mean it. I wouldn't be alive without you!'

'Oh I doubt that Harry,' she scoffed, and she patted his hand.

'Really?' Harry asked, his anger directed at her rather than Ron know. 'What about in first year when we went after the Philosopher's Stone, and you saved me and Ron from the Devil's Snare AND worked out Snape's puzzle?'

Hermione didn't answer. She had an odd look on her face. Harry pressed on, taking his chance to safely vent his anger at Ron out. He knew that she didn't think he was annoyed with her.

'How about in second year when you worked out that it was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and that it was using the school's plumbing to get about the school...'

He was on a roll now, and couldn't stop.

'What about in third year and all that crazy stuff with the time turner? What about the Triwizard Tournament? Do I really need to give you any more examples?' Harry asked.

She shook her head.

'Ron's an idiot,' Harry said savagely. 'He doesn't realise just how brilliant you are. You've saved his skin more times than you should have, and he can't even take the time to tell people that you were the one to manipulate that shield charm in Diagon Alley. He needs to start taking notice of you.'

Harry even made to stand up, but Hermione grabbed his hand.

'Harry, no,' she hissed. 'Not now. Look, I don't know why, but you're really annoyed at Ron all of a sudden. He hasn't done anything Harry. He doesn't deserve all of this hate.'

'I don't hate him,' Harry said quickly. 'I'm just tired of the fact that he takes you for granted. You don't deserve that. He doesn't seem to really believe that we are at war, either.'

'Harry, he's trying!' Hermione insisted. 'He's been really helpful with strategies hasn't he? He has been really useful when we've been planning DA sessions too. Don't forget that we all work best in different ways. Don't get me wrong, I like that you're more motivated than ever to fighting Voldemort, even though I wish it was under different circumstances. You've become obsessed...'

'I need to be,' he said coldly. 'Voldemort is obsessed with killing me. It's only right that I become obsessed with killing him.'

'Don't forget what makes you, you,' Hermione continued, unperturbed.

'I don't think Quidditch is going to help,' he scoffed.

'Maybe not Quidditch,' she admitted. 'But, you've become so, wound up, that you need to unwind. How about we skip revision of common plants which can be used in healing potions and salves and you go flying with Ron tomorrow morning?'

'That's really important...' Harry started, but she cut him off.

'I will not revise with you tomorrow Harry,' she said flatly. 'Not until you've spent the morning flying and TALKING to Ron. Whatever your problem with him is, you have to get it sorted. Otherwise, you might lose his friendship.'

Harry stared at her, and she stared back, just as resolutely. He knew, instantly, that it would be pointless to argue. He'd never been able to stand her being angry at him. Harry nodded and Hermione's expression softened slightly.

'Good,' she said, and she glanced over Ron's clock. It was starting to get to get late. 'Well, good night Harry.'

She leant up and kissed him on the cheek, and left the room. Harry felt his cheek burn slightly and he undressed and climbed onto the camp bed. Ron appeared a few minutes later.

'Oh, there you are. We all wondered where you'd gotten to,' Ron said cheerfully as he undressed and clambered into bed.

'I was wondering if you were going to go flying tomorrow?' Harry asked.

'Sure,' Ron replied enthusiastically. 'Did you want to practice some Quidditch?'

'Nah, just fly,' Harry said. 'Maybe after breakfast?'

'Sure,' Ron replied.

They lulled into a sleepy silence.

The next morning, they were awoken by Mrs Weasley bustling into the room and opening the curtains with a wave of her wand. Sunlight burst into the room, jolting Harry awake with unbridled barbarity. He jerked awake, and his right hand shot up to shield his eyes.

He heard Ron groan in pain, and Harry imagined him rolling over and burying his face in the pillow.

'Up,' Mrs Weasley said briskly. 'Breakfast is nearly ready. You said you wanted it early. I don't want to have gotten up for nothing.'

Harry groaned and slowly sat up. His eyes slowly adjusted to the decidedly weakening sunlight. He grabbed his glasses and put them, and Ron's room came into focus. He stood up, dressed and opened the bedroom door.

'Come on,' he grumbled. 'Breakfast and then flying.'

The last word seemed to pull Ron out of his sleepy stupor.

'Flying,' he repeated sleepily. 'Good.'

Harry met Hermione on the stairs and they walked down to breakfast together.

'Remember our deal?' Hermione asked, her voice a little steely.

'Yeah,' Harry replied meekly.

'All of it?'

'Uh-huh,' Harry replied.

'Good,' Hermione said satisfied, as Ron came into the kitchen and fell into a chair next to Harry, just as Mrs Weasley placed stacked plates of scrambled eggs on toast in front of them. They ate in silence, while Mrs Weasley drank tea from a large mug.

After breakfast, they headed upstairs to grab their broomsticks and books, and returned to the kitchen to find Mr Weasley immersed in the morning's Daily Prophet, a piece of toast in his hand.

" _POTTER DEFEATS DEATH EATERS IN DIAGON ALLEY!"_

The headline didn't make for good reading, to Harry. While there wasn't much in the way of bad press, apart from the insinuation that he, Harry, didn't care much for the others left in the wizard's market place, the paper seemed to revel in the fact that Harry Potter had, yet again, defeated Lord Voldemort's followers. Harry was finishing reading the front page, when Mr Weasley looked up at him.

'Oh, good morning Harry,' Mr Wesley beamed at him. 'Going flying?'

'Yeah, I need a break,' Harry said, flashing a look at Hermione who glared at him, as if daring him to break his word.

'Well, you have been working hard on whatever you three have been planning. Any chance you'll let us know what you're working on?'

'It's nothing really,' Harry said. 'Me and Hermione are revising useful spells and stuff, and we're all planning DA lessons for next year.

'Are you sure that's wise Harry?' Mr Weasley asked quietly. 'With Umbridge gone, the DA isn't exactly needed is it? I was under the impression that it was an anti-Umbridge movement.'

'It might have started as an anti-Umbridge movement, but now I want to start preparing people for actually fighting Death Eaters. They're going to need it. There's only so much they can learn in a classroom from a teacher.'

'The same could be said for you,' Mr Weasley said shrewdly. 'I'm not going to lie Harry, I'm actually glad that you're continuing with the DA. There are members of the Order who guessed that you would be continuing with the group of yours, and some seem opposed to the idea.'

Harry had a shrewd idea that it was Mrs Weasley who didn't want the DA to continue.

'Either way, you're right. We're in a war. Childhood can only protect our youth so much. I'm glad that you're taking on a more active role in this fight,' Mr Weasley told him and Harry nodded. 'Still, you have worked hard this summer, and you deserve a break.'

Harry stood up as Ron stomped down the stairs, three at a time, carrying his broomstick.

'Ready?' Ron asked Harry, who followed him out of the back door and into the garden.

They walked through the garden in silence, and Hermione followed them, a couple of books in her arms. They finally reached the paddock, and they both mounted their brooms and kicked off from the ground. As Harry rocketed into the air, and something wonderful happened to him. It seemed as if all of his worries and fears had stayed on the ground. He raced around the paddock in a blur, his Firebolt urging him to go faster. Harry swerved in front of a tree and went into a perfectly controlled dive, before rising like a bullet, thirty feet into the air, just a tad higher than the top of the tallest tree.

He spotted Hermione sat down at the base of a large oak tree, and his giddiness gave way to euphoric mischievousness. He hovered in the air, and saw Ron streak around the edge of the paddock. He concentrated his gaze on Hermione's book.

In an instant, he had dived. He was gathering speed and the wind was whipping his hair away from his face. His entire body contorted with practiced muscle memory. His right hand came off the broom handle, and as he pulled up, he snatched the book out of her hands.

She shrieked loudly, and stared up at him, as he zoomed off, laughter echoing back to her. She heard his laughter and smiled. It felt good to hear him laugh. It seemed like it had been an age since he had laughed. She wanted to point her wand up at him, and summon her book back, but felt like she would be pushing her luck with the Ministry.

'Harry,' she shouted, unable to keep a giggle out of her voice. 'Give me my book back!'

'You're going to have to come up and get it.'

Even from Harry's immense height, he knew the look she was giving him, and he laughed loudly. His laughter echoed down to her, and she pulled out her wand. The Ministry be damned. She wanted her book back. She took aim, and just as she was about to cast a summoning charm, Harry shouted down to her.

'Hey, that's not fair,' he shouted playfully. 'Besides, are you sure that you'd want to incur the wrath of the Ministry?'

She grumbled for a moment.

'Harry Potter,' she screamed up at him. 'Give me my book back, or I'll...'

'What?' Harry called back, in a sing song voice. He was getting a lot of joy out of annoying her.

Ron was laughing as he landed next to her.

'Want to use my broom?' Ron joked, offering her his broomstick. To his surprise, she grabbed and clumsily mounted it.

She kicked off from the ground, and shakily rose into the air. Her fear of flying was battling the desire to get her book back.

'Oh, I really hate this,' she said to herself.

Eventually, she managed to reach the same height as Harry. Her knuckles were white as she held onto the broom for dear life. Harry, annoyingly to her, looked as if he was unsupported.

'Give it back,' she growled.

Harry laughed, and held out her book. As she shakily reached out to grab it, her entire body wobbled, and she slipped sideways and off the broom. She screamed as she plummeted towards the ground. Harry dived after her.

'Go, go,' he urged his Firebolt, fear filling him. He caught up with Hermione and reached out a hand. She grabbed it and held on for dear life. Harry pulled her onto the Firebolt behind him, and levelled out his broom, their toes brushing the still dewy grass. He stopped the broom and allowed Hermione to dismount. Ron was across the paddock, waiting to catch his broomstick which was falling to ground. Hermione's heavy book had already smashed into the ground, and splintered along the spine.

'That wasn't funny Harry,' she raged as she got off the broom.

'I know,' Harry insisted. 'I was trying to have a laugh.'

'Oh yes,' Hermione spat acidly. 'Very witty.'

'I'm sorry Hermione,' he said, and she could tell he meant it. Her expression softened slightly.

'My book's ruined,' she said simply.

'Mrs Weasley should be able to fix that. Simple repair charm.'

Hermione nodded and went to collect the remains of her book. Ron came jogging over to him, broomstick over his shoulder.

'I never thought she would have actually flown up to get her book back,' he said, almost admiringly.

'Hermione never has backed down from a challenge has she?' Harry said, and Ron shook his head.

'Nope,' he said simply.

Hermione had already began to walk back to the Burrow. Feeling stupid and remorseful Harry followed, and Ron silently took up the rear. However, when they returned to the Burrow, Harry, Ron and Hermione found a note on the kitchen table.

'Dad and I have gone with Bill to Diagon Alley to get all of your things. I have taken the money bags with us, and will put back the money back into Harry's account. Aurors are still in Diagon Alley, so we will be fine. See you in a couple of hours. There is fresh bread and some ham for sandwiches if you get hungry. Love Mum,' Ron read aloud.

Harry took his Firebolt back upstairs and placed it inside his trunk. He pointed his wand and silently locked the door. He tapped the furthest lock to the right with the tip of his wand and it clicked open.

Harry opened the trunk and stared down at the younger version of himself. He seemed to be okay. Harry knew that he couldn't keep him down there indefinitely but it was the best plan that he and his own Hermione had been able to come up with. He stepped inside the trunk and dropped into the room. He conjured a goblet and filled it with water. He had already provided some food from the Weasley's kitchen the previous night. He would have to awaken his younger self.

Harry knew that the Imperious curse wouldn't work. He had a high tolerance and resistance to it, and casting it on himself wouldn't make it more effective. He pointed his wand at the Harry on the four poster bed.

'Enervate,' he said.

Instantly, Harry awoke and started at the sight of himself.

'I know this is weird,' the older Harry said. 'You need to eat and drink.'

He pointed at the goblet and plate of food. His younger self looked at it warily.

'What's going on?'

'It would take too long to explain,' Harry told his younger self. 'Eat and drink. You're not in any danger.'

'Who are you?'

'You,' Harry said. 'Eat and drink, or I'll hex you.'

He raised his wand and motioned to the plate and goblet. His younger self hesitated and slowly got up and grabbed the goblet and food. He took a sip of water before downing it greedily. He had seemingly decided to trust the older version of himself. As the younger Harry was eating the food, Harry refilled the goblet.

'I'm here to change things. Stuff happened which shouldn't have. Do you remember the time turners?' Harry asked himself, who nodded.

'Yeah,' the younger boy said. 'Hermione and I used them to save Sirius and Buckbeak in our third year.'

'Yeah, I remember,' Harry replied testily. 'Well, where I come from, Voldemort won. It's too complicated to tell you everything. Needless to say, I've managed to come back in time, and I have a plan to change things so that my present isn't your future.'

'How do I know you're telling the truth?' The younger Harry's tone had become suspicious.

'I would offer to take Veritaserum,' Harry snapped. 'Do you have any? Because I don't.'

The younger Harry shook his head, and the older Harry pulled a vial out of a nearby drawer.

'What's that?'

'It's a potion that my Hermione invented. We needed something to knock you out for a prolonged period of time without killing you. I can't keep stunning you, and the Imperious curse won't work either. It's called the Draught of Catatonia. It stops you from feeling the effects of dehydration or malnutrition. If you take this, you won't wake untilI awaken you.'

'How do I know you will wake me up?'

'Because, I want to go home. This isn't my time. Once my mission is complete, then I'll wake you up and go home.'

'How will you get home?'

'Time turners don't just go backwards in time,' the older Harry winked at him.

The younger Harry stared at the older version of himself, trying to detect deceit, but couldn't. Slowly he nodded.

'Good,' the older Harry said. 'Right, drink this and you'll fall asleep. It's like taking a potion for dreamless sleep. Hopefully, I'll wake you up in about nine months.'

'Nine months?'

'Yeah, that should be enough time,' Harry said. 'Like I said, I need to make sure that Voldemort is defeated in my time. Come on, stop stalling, I've probably already raised suspicions.'

Harry took the vial from his older self, and downed the clear liquid. Immediately, he felt drowsy, and he settled himself onto the bed. As he laid down, he seemed to be leaking a pale liquid which covered him before hardening into a ice-like substance.

Harry stared down at his younger self, sighed and clambered out of the trunk, before locking it again. He unlocked the door and Ron came bursting in.

'What were you doing?' Ron asked indignantly.

'Changing,' Harry replied nonchalantly. 'Sorry.'

'You're in the same clothes,' Ron observed, and Harry mentally kicked himself.

'If you must know,' Harry said. 'I was looking for my book on dark curses. I don't want anyone to know I have it. I'm not going to use them, but I need to know how to combat them. Can you not tell anyone, least of all Hermione. I'll tell her when we get to Hogwarts.'

Ron nodded.

'Sure,' he said. 'Won't say a word.'

Ron turned away from him and stood his broomstick up against the wall.

'Oh,' he said. 'Hermione's still pissed at you.'

'Yeah,' Harry nodded. 'I know. Don't worry, I'll sort it out with her.'

'Okay,' Ron said happily and he left the room. Harry followed him.

A couple of hours later, Mr and Mrs Weasley, along with Bill, returned with Harry's, Hermione's, Ron's and Ginny's things from Diagon Alley. An argument was averted by the arrival of several Order members who had been invited to dinner.

Harry was kept away from Hermione throughout dinner and was unable to properly apologise for his antics in the paddock, and it was a couple of hours before Harry managed to steal a private moment with her. He found Hermione outside in the garden, watching Crookshanks chasing some gnomes. Harry briefly wondered if Crookshanks knew what to do with a gnome if he ever caught one.

'Hi,' he said meekly. She looked up at him.

'Hello,' her voice was cold and uninviting. Unperturbed, he sat down next to her.

'I'm sorry,' he said, staring at her. It was a while before she turned to face him.

'I know,' she said softly.

'Then why are you annoyed with me?' Harry asked perplexedly.

'I'm not annoyed at you,' she stressed and she grabbed his hands. 'I'm really not annoyed at you. I'm annoyed at myself.'

'For what?'

'Ruining your fun,' she mumbled.

'What?' Harry asked, aghast. 'What makes you think you were ruining my fun?'

'I slipped off Ron's broomstick,' she said.

'I caught you, didn't I?' Harry asked and she nodded.

'I might have been able to join in, if I could ride a broom...'

'Hang on,' Harry said, shaking his head in confusion. 'You think that you're not fun, because you don't enjoy flying?'

She didn't look at him. He gently placed a hand under her chin and raised her face, so that he could look directly into her eyes.

'Hermione Jean Granger, you're fun no matter what.'

She choked out a sardonic giggle.

'Hardly. I'm the bookworm who nags you to do your homework.'

'I think you might be nagging me less this year,' Harry joked and she smiled.

'Hopefully,' she said. 'I'm still not as much fun as Ron. I'll never understand the whole deal you two have with Quidditch.'

'Hermione, you are FUN,' he stressed. 'You're unique and fun in your own way. I'm starting to appreciate why you love books so much. I mean, they're hopefully going to help me defeat Voldemort.'

His hand hadn't left her chin, and they continued to stare into each other's eyes. Brown stared into green in the dying sun light. Without warning, Hermione leant forward and kissed him on the lips.

In an instant, Harry's mind went blank out of complete shock. He wouldn't have ever thought that Hermione would have kissed him so... He couldn't even think properly. After a heart-stopping moment, they broke apart. Hermione looked mortified and embarrassed.

'I'm so sorry Harry,' she gabbled as she scrambled to her feet and ran into the house.

Harry, still in shock, remained rooted to the spot as the sun sunk below the horizon.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

 **This will be the first part of a (hopefully) multi chapter update. Will be unable to upload for a couple of days (until Tuesday/Wednesday). Hope you enjoy it.**

Hermione stayed in Ginny's room the next day. Ginny had come down at breakfast and announced that Hermione was sleeping in and didn't know when she would be down. Ron gave Harry a quizzical look, but Harry concentrated on his breakfast.

He had spent hours in the garden after Hermione had run into the house. It was past midnight before Harry walked back into the house and went up to bed, but his mind was still buzzing. He was still confused as he ate his breakfast in silence.

After he and Ron had finished, they made their way up to Ginny's room, but were rebuffed by the youngest Weasley child.

'She's still sleeping,' Ginny hissed. 'Leave her alone.'

Ron nodded and left to ascend the staircase towards his room, but Harry stayed put.

'Ginny, she's not sleeping,' Harry said knowingly. 'What's wrong with her?'

'She is sleeping,' Ginny insisted, and she closed the door behind her. 'Also, nothing is wrong with her. Why do you ask?'

'I've never known Hermione to still be asleep this late,' he said reasonably.

'Well, you two have been working pretty hard all summer. Let her sleep, she'll probably come down for lunch,' Ginny said placatingly, and Harry nodded before going up to Ron's room and grabbing a handful of books.

Harry spent the morning at the kitchen table reading up on defensive charm manipulation, and making notes. It seemed to Harry that he wasn't making a lot of headway. Some parts of the book were incredibly complicated, but he was sure that Hermione would be able to translate for him. It also didn't help that his mind kept wandering back to their kiss the night before.

Ginny's assertion that Hermione would join everyone for lunch turned out to be false. She didn't come down, and after eating, Ginny took a plate up for her. Harry caught Ginny's gaze, who merely shrugged and left the kitchen.

Harry tried to keep his mind off Hermione, but it was a futile exercise. Books were picked up, read for a few minutes and discarded, as Harry failed to keep his mind on his task. At dinner that evening, he ate a little, before excusing him and heading up to Ginny's room. He knocked on the door, but there wasn't any answer. He knocked again, but there was still no answer. Sighing angrily, he made his way up to Ron's room, stripped down to his underwear and decided to get an early night.

His dreams that night were filled with Hermione. She kept popping up in his dreams. He never saw her face, as she kept her back to him, but Harry was sure that it was her. He kept waking up periodically throughout the night, and swore that he heard movement on the stairs at about two in the morning.

Harry rose before anyone the next morning. He slipped into the bathroom and washed, before dressing in the semi darkness. The sun was barely above the horizon and there was birdsong in the air. He grabbed his wand and glasses and headed downstairs.

The back door was open, and he immediately pulled out his wand. He cautiously approached the open doorway and peered out into the garden. Hermione was sat on the dewy grass, with Crookshanks in her lap. Harry quietly slipped through the back door, and silently padded over to her.

'You can't ignore and avoid me forever,' he said simply, and Hermione jumped so much that Crookshanks was violently dislodged from her lap.

'Harry!' Hermione breathed heavily, her hand over her heart. 'You scared me.'

'It's true,' Harry continued. 'You can't avoid me forever.'

'I haven't been avoiding you,' she said, as Harry sat down next to her. She avoided looking at him.

'Really?' Harry asked her, a sarcastic tone in his voice. 'Seemed like it yesterday.'

'I was really tired,' she said. 'I just wanted to sleep.'

'So, it had nothing to do with the fact that you kissed me the day before yesterday?'

She still didn't look at him. Her gaze was fixed upon Crookshanks, who was exploring the garden in the dim light.

'I didn't mean to do that,' she said plainly. Something pulled at Harry's heart. 'I don't know what happened.'

It was as if she wanted to push him away. Her voice was almost cold.

'Neither do I,' Harry admitted. 'I mean, I never thought...'

'Thought what?' Hermione interrupted.

'That you liked me,' Harry mumbled. 'Friends don't kiss like that.'

'True,' Hermione ceded. 'Friends don't kiss like that.'

There was a prolonged silence. Harry waited for her to speak again.

'I don't think that we should do that again,' she said candidly. 'It would make things... Complicated.'

Harry felt his heart break at her words. He knew, however, that she was right. Now wasn't the right time for things to become complicated.

'Okay,' Harry said levelly. She turned to face him. She had an inscrutable expression on her face. 'We won't.'

He paused and he could almost feel his body being pulled towards hers. To stop himself kissing her, he got up and left her alone in the garden. He spent breakfast with Ron and even went flying. He revised alone in the afternoon. Hermione was sat in the lounge, talking with Ginny and Mrs Weasley.

'What's happened?' Ron asked Harry just as Mrs Weasley bustled into the kitchen to start cooking dinner. 'Why aren't you and Hermione revising together?'

'She's really tired. I'm only carrying on because of...' Harry paused. He didn't want Mrs Weasley to know about the prophecy.

'Ah right,' Ron said, cottoning on quickly. 'Anything help?'

'Not really,' Harry admitted, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. 'I already know this stuff back to front. I can't see anything else.'

'Well, we'll be going back to Hogwarts in a couple of days, so maybe you'll be able to find more stuff in the Library,' Ron paused. 'Blimey, I'd never thought I'd say that.'

Despite his dour mood, Harry laughed. Truthfully, he'd never thought of or heard Ron talk about the Hogwarts' Library as anything other than a punishment. Now, with the prophecy and his own experiences, Harry was sure that the dusty library would be the ideal place to help arm himself and others against Voldemort. He doubted whether anywhere else had such an extensive collection of magical books.

Hermione sat at the far end of the table, and seemingly ignored Harry. Harry focused on his plate and Ron, who noticed nothing out of the ordinary, ate with gusto. Harry volunteered to help clear the table after everyone had finished eating. Ron, who had eaten enough food to last him a week, was laying down on the couch, massaging his full stomach. Hermione was nowhere to be seen and Ginny was with Bill and Mr Weasley discussing her chances for becoming Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year.

Harry strolled out into the garden. Hermione wasn't there. It was starting to get dark, and there was no light coming through Ginny's window. He doubted very much that she would be up there. He walked to the back of the garden and slipped through some foliage and onto the path that led to the paddock, where he and Ron flew. He quickly ran up the path and came to the paddock.

A figure was hovering about ten foot in the air. A broomstick was keeping them aloft, but the figure made no effort to take the broom higher, or even move. Harry could hear the rapid, heavy breathing and could almost feel the terror. He smiled slightly to himself. It was Hermione.

'Y'know, I probably should be annoyed at you for borrowing my Firebolt without permission,' Harry said loudly. Hermione gasped and turned around to face him.

'You scared me,' she hissed.

'Technically that's stealing,' Harry pointed out.

'I just wanted to "get back on the horse" as the Muggles say,' she said.

'I'm more curious as to how you managed to get it past me without me noticing,' Harry grinned.

She smiled embarrassedly back at him.

'I didn't think that you'd mind,' she said sheepishly. 'I just wondered if I could finally get over my fear of flying. I mean, it's been five years.'

'How I about I give you a lesson?' Harry asked her, and she considered him for a minute.

She nodded and leant forward on the broom directing the handle towards the ground, and she lowered slowly. Her feet touched the grass and she clumsily dismounted. Harry chuckled and strode up to her. He grabbed the Firebolt's handle and swung his leg over it.

'Right first lesson,' he said. 'We need to get you over your fear of flying. Climb on behind me.'

Hermione hesitated. She thought that there would a bit of show and tell before actually flying. Deciding to trust Harry, she slowly mounted the broomstick behind him. She wrapped her arms tightly around his chest and held on for dear life.

'Maybe you should loosened your hold Hermione,' Harry winced. 'I can barely breathe already.'

'Sorry,' she muttered.

Her grip loosened enough for Harry to breathe normally, but it was still quite tight. Harry kicked off from the ground and they shot into the air at speed. Harry stopped the broom just high enough for them to graze the tops of the trees surrounding the paddock. Hermione whimpered a little.

'Don't worry Hermione,' Harry whispered. 'You'll be fine. I'm just going to go into a little dive, and start doing some laps of the paddock. Nothing too fast.'

She didn't reply, but nodded against his back. Harry grinned to himself. He dived. The Firebolt reacted impeccably, and after about ten feet, he levelled the broom out and began to lap the paddock. They weren't going particularly fast, but Hermione's grip around him wasn't loosening in the slightest. After about ten minutes of dizzying laps of the paddock, Harry touched down, and helped Hermione climb off.

'That's it?' Hermione asked, and Harry swore that he could heard a touch of disappointment.

'Why did you want to ride my broom?' Harry asked. 'I'm not buying the whole learning to fly stuff either. Your grip didn't loosen a bit while we were in the air.'

His tone wasn't accusatory, rather, it was more curious than anything, but it seemed to humble her a little.

'I just wanted to know how flying made you so...' Hermione paused. 'When you're up there, it looks like you don't have a care in the world. I just wanted to know...'

'If that it would work for you?' Harry deduced and she nodded.

'You look so peaceful in the air. Even in a Quidditch match,' she said. 'I know you're concentrating, but stuff like Voldemort doesn't seem to affect you. You just focus on the task at hand. I saw you the other day, before I nearly fell off Ron's broom. You were so relaxed! I just wanted to feel like that.'

Her voice had tailed off, but Harry frowned at her.

'I always thought books did the same for you that flying does for me?' Harry asked.

'Normally they do,' Hermione said. 'I tried to read when I was really tired. I couldn't sleep, and I thought that reading a book would help clear my head, but it didn't work.'

'What was on your mind?' Harry asked, his heart was suddenly and inexplicably beating faster.

'Our...' Hermione hesitated, and Harry immediately knew what she was trying to get at. Their kiss.

'I don't want anything to change,' she pleaded. 'I don't know what came over me!'

'It doesn't matter,' Harry said quickly, and she threw him a quizzical look. The desire to tell her he loved her tore at his inside, almost ripping him apart. 'You kissed me. It's fine. I've kissed you, remember?'

'That was different,' Hermione said dismissively. 'You kissed me on the forehead. I kissed you on the lips! Friends don't kiss friends on the lips. I just...'

'Hermione, I'm not going to stop being your friend because you kissed me,' he told her calmly. 'I was just surprised, because I never thought that you thought of me like that.'

She hesitated.

'You've changed recently,' she whispered. 'It's not like... I liked the old Harry... As a friend...'

She was shuffling like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and it was so endearing and cute, Harry couldn't help but laugh.

'What?' Hermione asked, looking a little hurt. 'Why are you laughing at me?'

'It's not that,' Harry reassured her. 'I know what you're trying to get at.'

She nodded and he closed the small gap between them and pulled her into a hug.

'Don't worry, Hermione,' he said softly.

She couldn't know how much it was hurting him right now to not admit his feelings, but he had a job to do. He had to stop Voldemort before it was too late. Hermione would be in more danger if they became something else. She was in enough danger as it was. The incident in Diagon Alley had proved that.

'What happens now?' Hermione asked softly, her voice slightly muffled by Harry's chest.

'We carry on as we used to. There's some stuff I still want to go over. I tried revising it without you, but it just sounds like nonsense. I can't make head nor tail out of it.'

'Okay,' she said, nodding her head. 'We'll go over it after breakfast tomorrow morning?'

'Sure,' Harry said. 'Just promise me one thing?'

'What?'

'You don't take my broom and try to fly,' he joked and she giggled.

'Okay,' she said.

They broke apart and slowly made their way back to the Burrow. As they entered through the back door, Mrs Weasley shrieked.

'Where have you been?' Molly screamed at them. 'I've had half the Order looking for you two! Everyone is searching for you! You both had us worried sick. We half thought that Death Eaters had taken you!'

'We were in the paddock,' Harry told her calmly. 'Hermione wanted to practice flying.'

'At eleven in the evening?' Mrs Weasley screeched incredulously. At that moment, Ron and Ginny came pelting into the kitchen.

'What?' Harry asked. 'I saw Hermione walking towards the paddock with my Firebolt.'

That wasn't strictly true, but Harry didn't want to admit that he looked for Hermione because he was worried about her.

'How the hell did she manage to get your Firebolt?' Ron asked.

'I crept into your room and borrowed it. I didn't think Harry would mind,' Hermione said meekly.

'I was curious as to why Hermione would want to fly in the first place,' Harry explained. 'Especially after what happened last time.'

Ron gave Harry a knowing look and a nod, Ginny however looked perplexed.

'What happened?'

'Long story,' Ron said shortly. He didn't feel that Harry needed to be shouted at for inadvertently endangering Hermione's life, especially as he was already in trouble.

'Well,' Mrs Weasley said hotly. 'Next time, you can wait until morning. Flying at eleven in the evening is totally out of the question. I mean, what if Death Eaters did attack?'

'I'd fight back,' Harry said shortly. 'They'd regret it.'

They all stared at him. They'd never heard the callousness in his voice before. It was as if Harry was prepared to torture the Death Eaters.

'Well,' Mrs Weasley said, clearly flustered. 'Why don't you all go and get ready for bed?'

'Okay,' they all said at once, before leaving Mrs Weasley alone in the kitchen.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny trooped up the stairs in silence. Ginny opened her bedroom door, and went inside while Ron carried on up the stairs. Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist and pulled him into a brief hug before following Ginny. Harry, a little dazedly, followed Ron up the stairs and almost collapsed onto the camp bed.

 _What am I doing?_ Harry thought to himself. _I can't get involved. She'll be in too much danger!_

'Night,' Ron said placidly as he pulled off his shirt and climbed into bed. Within minutes, he was snoring.

Harry was too preoccupied to sleep. Half of him wanted to run away back to his own time, abandoning the plan that he and his Hermione had taken so long to prepare. But, that would mean that she had died in vain, and Harry couldn't stomach the thought of that. If anything, this time around, Hermione would live. He would make sure of that. He didn't care if he died, but Hermione was going to live.

However, the other half wanted to stay and confess his true feelings for Hermione. He wanted to stay and alter time, and live a life that he felt he had been denied. He wanted what he knew he could never really have. Hopefully, if his plan worked then he might be able to go back to a future where he had a life. No matter what it was.

Harry huffed angrily, rolled over on his camp bed and closed his eyes. He must have been more tired than he thought. Sleep washed over him like a wave, bring with it images and visions of Hermione and seemingly happy times. When he awoke the next morning, he had a grin on his face, which was quickly quashed. He couldn't allow himself to continue to think of what might be with Hermione. He had to focus on his mission.

After a hearty breakfast, as was mandatory at the Burrow, Mrs Weasley chided Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny into start their packing for the new Hogwarts year. Term started the next day and Mrs Weasley didn't want anything to be missed.

It turned out to be good advice. Harry had ordered quite a few books via owl order over the summer and it took most of the day to track down all of his possessions and pack them.

'Y'know,' Ron said, midway through the afternoon just as Mrs Weasley was leaving his room, after depositing two large piles of clean washing on their beds. 'I think you've got more books than Hermione, mate.'

'She's got more,' Harry replied, as he tucked his robes into a separate compartment of his trunk that he had dedicated to just his clothes. The last lock remained secure and untouched. 'We were curious about that a week ago and decided to count. She's got five more books than me, but she's taking more subjects isn't she?'

'Not what I meant mate,' Ron chuckled. 'At least your books are full of the good stuff, like curses and jinxes. Hermione's books are about Ancient Runes.'

He wrinkled his nose and Harry frowned.

'She likes that subject Ron,' he chided.

'Yeah,' Ron replied offhandedly, a pair of socks in his hand. 'It must be boring as hel thoughl. I've seen her books.'

'Don't let her hear you say that,' Harry warned and Ron laughed.

'Don't worry, I won't,' Ron assured him. 'Don't tell her this, but I'm kind of scared at how good she is at Transfiguration. I don't want to be turned into a slug of something.'

'Just your luck that we learn about human Transfiguration this year then,' Harry laughed, and Ron paled a little.

'I won't get on her bad side.'

'I wouldn't bet on that,' Harry chuckled and, after a moment, Ron did too.

'Maybe,' he said with a grin. 'Did you read all the books we've been assigned this year?'

'Mostly,' Harry said. 'The Defence Against the Secretly Darkest Arts book got read the most, but there was some interesting stuff in the Transfiguration and Charms books.'

'Huh,' Ron said. 'Maybe I should have checked them out then?'

'Maybe,' Harry said absently. 'Why break tradition though?'

Ron laughed.

'I'm never one to break with tradition, me,' he said. 'Besides, now, I'll have two friends to help me out when I have no clue what is going on.'

'Don't bet on it,' Harry joked. 'I had to have Hermione translate most of it for me.'

They both laughed and continued to pack.

Since making his deal with Hermione, Harry had taken the time to talk to Ron, and he was starting to feel the warmth he felt for him before Voldemort turned him. It was a nice feeling. It felt like he had finally gotten his friend back.

That night, Mrs Weasley cooked up a sumptuous feast for them to devour. Harry, Hermione and the Weasley's were joined by members of the Order and, as such, ate outside. It was a nice feeling. Harry was sat between Ron and Hermione and was joking and laughing with everyone. Fred and George were showing off the latest line of merchandise that they had developed, Shrieking Sherbet Lemons, which caused the unsuspecting target to shriek like a banshee every time they opened their mouth.

Ron had been caught out, and everyone, with the exception of Mrs Weasley, howled with laughter as Ron tried to talk, but continued to shriek. Fred assured him that the effects would wear off within the hour, and Ron spent the rest of the hour in forced silence. Harry vowed never to take anything off anyone, and briefly considered adopting Moody's approach to food and water.

Hermione was chatting with Ginny when her hand slipped off her leg and brushed Harry's. Unconsciously, he took it in his own and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. It wasn't until she squeezed his hand slightly that he realised that he was holding hers.

He delicately extracted his hand, and stood up to collect the empty plates. He carried them into the kitchen and placed them in the sink. Unbeknownst to him, Hermione had followed him.

'You can hold my hand if you want to Harry,' she said softly.

'Huh,' Harry replied, his concentration on the plates.

'I said you can hold my hand if you want to,' she repeated clearly.

'To be honest I didn't realise that I'd done it,' Harry admitted, and something flitted over her face.

'Like I said, you can hold my hand if you want to,' she grinned at him, and went back outside.

Harry sighed and leant against the sink. He needed to be more careful. It seemed that Hermione was ready to push for a relationship and although Harry really wanted that, he wanted to be sure of her safety first. If he kept holding her hand, like he had become accustomed to with his own Hermione, she might take that as a sign that he was ready to change the nature of their relationship, from friendship into something more.

 _She was not to be put in danger,_ he told himself. _At all costs, she is to survive._

Harry rejoined the group outside and sat himself down for dessert. Hermione's hand "innocuously" brushed his hand, but he mastered the urge and impulse to automatically take it. After a moment or two, Hermione's hand returned to her leg.

Harry inwardly sighed. He wanted to give in so much, but too much was at stake. He needed to protect her. He ate his dessert in silence, and left the table before anyone else, and made his way up to Ron's room. He undressed and climbed into bed. There was a small knock at the door, and Hermione poked her head inside.

'What's wrong?' Hermione asked softly.

'I can't,' Harry said shortly. 'I don't want to...'

'Don't want to what?' Her voice had hardened slightly. He could hear the hurt in her voice.

'I don't want to get you hurt,' he admitted.

'Harry, that's not your call,' she said simply.

'It is,' he said stiffly. 'If we start something, then Voldemort might find out and I don't want you in any more danger than you're already in.'

'I want to take the risk,' she told him. 'I don't care.'

'I can't have you in danger,' Harry said shortly.

'I don't...' Hermione started, but something in Harry snapped.

'No!' Harry shouted. 'No! I will NOT have you in danger!'

She looked a little taken aback. It had taken every last bit of restraint on Harry's part to stop himself accidentally blurting out information that he didn't want her to hear. Silently, she withdrew her head and closed the door. Harry groaned and flopped back onto the camp bed.

'Brilliant,' he muttered to himself. 'Now, she's going to hate me.'

Harry's night was restless, and disturbed. Hermione kept popping in and out of his dreams, and it was with ill grace that he got up the next morning. He showered and dressed in a jeans and tee. He'd change on the train, as was his custom.

Harry didn't have a chance to talk to Hermione all morning. There was a lot of hubbub in the Burrow. Two Ministry cars arrived at nine to take them to King's Cross. One was full of Aurors and the other was reserved for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mr and Mrs Weasley, and the trunks and familiars.

Even along the journey, Ron kept Harry occupied with a whispered discussion about DA lessons, and Hermione seemed to be deliberately keeping herself immersed in conversation with Ginny. They got to King's Cross station at half past ten. Mr Weasley and the Aurors got trolleys for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, and helped stack the heavy trunks onto them.

As they approached the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, an Auror appeared either side of Harry.

'We will go through with Potter first,' one of the Aurors told Mr Weasley, who nodded.

'I'm perfectly capable of going through on my own,' Harry snapped testily. He was in a very bad mood, his outburst at Hermione still playing on his mind.

The Aurors ignored him and escorted him through the barrier and almost frogmarched him to the train. They heaved his trunk onto the train and one went to deal with the trolley while the other waited with Harry, who was waiting for the others. Ron and Hermione came through the barrier after Harry, while Mr and Mrs Weasley came through with Ginny. Two more Aurors came through the barrier after them, and as a large group, they made their way over to the train.

Once all their trunks and things were aboard the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny said their last goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Weasley.

'Thanks for having me over Mrs Weasley,' Harry said, as Mrs Weasley crushed him in a tight hug.

'Any time dear. You're welcome to come over for Christmas as always, just let us know.' She let go of him and beamed at him.

They stepped onto the train, and heard a whistle sound. Hermione turned on her heel and started to walk towards the prefect's carriages. Ron flashed a confused look at Harry, who shook his head, before following. Harry and Ginny grabbed their trunks and began to look for an empty carriage. They eventually found the compartment where Luna and Neville were sitting. Harry opened the door and stepped inside.

'Hiya Harry,' Neville said happily. 'Had a good summer?'

Something pulled at Harry's insides. Harry decided on a broad version of the truth.

'It was okay,' Harry said. 'You?'

'Really good actually. I got a new wand, look.' Neville pulled a wand out of his jeans pocket. 'Thirteen inches, made of cherry, with a unicorn hair core. Good, eh?'

Yeah,' Harry said, vaguely remembering Neville's old wand snapping in the Department of Mysteries. 'Didn't your Gran mind Neville?'

'Well, she was annoyed that Dad's wand got broken, but she was proud that I'd fought at the Ministry. She said that it was something that my Dad would have done, and that she was proud of me.'

'Cool,' Harry said, grinning at Neville who grinned back. 'What about you Luna? Have a good summer?'

'Oh yes,' she said breathily. 'Me and father went to Sweden to try and find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. We didn't actually see one, but there were some really encouraging signs.'

Harry looked at Neville and they both had to fight back laughs. Luna was obsessed with her father's outlandish thoughts and ideas. The compartment door opened and a group of giggling girls stared at Harry.

'Hi Harry,' one of them said.

'Err, hello,' Harry replied awkwardly.

'Would you like to join us,' the girl asked, fluttering her eyelashes a little.

'I'm fine thanks,' Harry replied coldly. 'I'm with my friends.'

If she was taken aback, she didn't show it or miss a beat.

'These are your friends?' Her tone was incredulous.

'Yeah,' Harry replied angrily. 'Got a problem with that?'

'Err, no,' she said abashedly and she quickly left with her friends.

'Friends,' Luna repeated dreamily. 'I like that I'm your friend, Harry.'

'Well,' Harry said embarrassedly. 'You are.'

'People will think that you should have cooler friends than us,' Neville said baldly.

'You are cool,' Harry said crisply. 'They wouldn't have gone to the Ministry with me.'

 _Or died fighting Voldemort to protect me,_ Harry added in his head.

'Thanks,' Neville said quietly. 'I'm just sorry that I destroyed that prophecy.'

'Don't worry about it,' Harry told him quickly. 'The main thing is that we all got out of there alive.'

Ginny and Neville nodded. Luna, however, pulled a copy of the Quibbler out of her bag and began to read it, while humming slightly tunelessly to herself. Harry fought back a laugh, and began talking about Quiddtich with Neville and Ginny. About an hour later, the witch who pushed the lunch trolley opened their compartment door.

'Anything off the trolley dears?'

Harry jumped up and bought a little of everything. He knew that Ron and Hermione would turn up soon.

After paying the witch nine sickles and three knuts, he poured the sweets onto a free chair and grabbed a chocolate frog before sitting back down. As he knew they would, Ron and Hermione entered the compartment not long after. Harry threw a chocolate frog into the air and Ron caught it as he passed. Hermione completely ignored him and his proffered chocolate cauldron and sat between Luna and Ginny.

'What have you done?' Ron asked Harry quietly.

'Don't want to talk about it,' Harry replied shortly, and he busied himself with handing Neville a pack of liquorice wands.

The rest of the journey passed by in a tense silence. Hermione was determinedly avoiding all eye contact and conversation with Harry, preferring to talk to just Luna and Ginny.

Mid way through the afternoon, the unappealing sight of Draco Malfoy and his henchman, Crabbe and Goyle appeared in the doorway.

'Well well,' Malfoy drawled. 'If it isn't the Boy Who.. whatever.'

He grinned maliciously at them.

'Oh and his faithful sidekicks, the blood traitor Weasley and the Mud...'

BANG!

Malfoy was thrown across the corridor, and landed in a crumpled heap. The glass door which he had been blasted into was cracked. Crabbe and Goyle looked shocked. Harry was on his feet, his wand raised, pointing it at Malfoy.

Crabbe and Goyle moved towards Harry's their fists raised, but he turned his wand on them.

'Move one more step and I'll hex you,' he growled so menacingly that they stopped dead. Harry retrained his wand on Malfoy who was stirring feebly.

'You will not call Hermione or any other Muggle-Born a Mudblood,' Harry hissed.

Blood was pumping violently around his body, and he could hear the blood pounding in his ears. His rage had propelled him to his feet faster than anything, and he didn't even care about the stunned audience around him.

'If I EVER hear you call a Muggle-Born a Mudblood, I will curse you so badly that your mother won't be able to recognise you. Oh, one more thing, if your father still in Azkaban? I mean, I might have fought him again in Diagon Alley. I didn't exactly stop for a chat...'

Harry stepped back into the compartment and closed the door on Crabbe and Goyle's still stunned faces.

'You shouldn't have done that Harry,' Hermione said quietly.

'I don't care. He shouldn't have tried to call you a Mudblood,' Harry said testily. 'I'm sick of him calling you, or anyone else, that foul word. I've had enough. I'm not going to stand for any crap this year.'

'Blimey Harry,' Ron saw, clearly awed. He grabbed another chocolate frog and stuffed it into his mouth. 'You'll probably get detention.'

'Who cares?' Harry asked savagely. 'It's worth it.'

The rest of the journey passed by in near silence. Neville was concentrating on his new plant, a present from his uncle, and Luna was reading the Quibbler. Hermione and Ginny were quietly talking about O.W.L's, while Ron and Harry discussed Gryffindor's chances for the Quidditch cup, now that Katie Bell was, presumably, captain. Neither had been sent the Captain's badge.

As the sky darkened, they all changed into their school robes, and made sure that their possessions were ready to be taken off the train. The train slowly entered Hogsmede station and as a group they all disembarked. Harry carried his trunk and Hedwig's cage onto the platform and left it to the side. Hogwarts' house elves would presumably take the luggage up to the castle, while all the students were at the feast.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna all made their way through the crowds and to the carriages which were tethered to the school's Thestrals. Managing to get a carriage to themselves, they all piled inside and, at once, the carriage took off towards the castle.

As the sight of the castle came into view, Harry looked up at the familiar turrets and towers and felt a warmth spread over him. He was home. Even after all these years, Hogwarts always gave him a sense of security.

The carriage trundled up the path and stopped outside the doors leading to the entrance hall. As they clambered out and stepped up the stairs, Harry heard his name called out over the sea of heads.

'Potter!' It was Professor McGonagall.

'Told you,' Ron said. 'Good luck.'

Harry nodded and disentangled himself from the crowd and followed McGonagall into the nearest classroom.

'I heard that there was an altercation on the train,' she said firmly. 'You and Mister Malfoy.'

'I hexed him. Medium to low level Blasting hex. He was thrown across the corridor. He tried to call Hermione a Mudblood,' Harry's tone was flat, almost bored.

McGonagall's face blanched for a moment. It was clear that she didn't expect Harry to be so aloof.

'That may be Potter,' she said. 'But, Malfoy is a Prefect.'

'I don't care,' Harry said flatly. 'If anyone calls my friend a Mudblood, I'll hex them too.'

'Potter,' she warned. 'The use of magic outside classrooms is strictly prohibited. As it is, you are facing a detention for use of magic outside a classroom. As you attacked Mister Malfoy, I have to give you a punishment, despite your very valid reasons for using magic. You will serve a detention for this. Saturday night, with Hagrid. Also, ten points will be deducted from Gryffindor.'

Harry nodded and left the classroom, McGonagall right behind him. Harry entered the Great Hall and sat on Ron's left. Hermione was sat on Ron's right. The Sorting Hat had just finished it's song.

Professor McGonagall started to read out the names of the new first years and one by one they stepped forward and tried on the Sorting Hat, with each student Sorted into a house. It seemed to take a long time to Harry, he was starving. Ron's stomach growled rather audibly, and Harry knew he was hungry too. Hermione's face was turned to the Sorting and Harry couldn't see her expression.

He knew that Hermione had every right to be angry with him. If he was being honest, he was annoyed at himself for snapping at her. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel that she was better off not in a relationship with him. He was too dangerous.

The Sorting finally finished, and Ron grabbed his cutlery and looked expectantly at his plate. Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands.

'Begin!'

Immediately, food appeared on the golden platters, and Harry immediately busied himself with loading his plate with lamb chops, roast potatoes and a few greens. He tucked in and turned his head to glance at Ron. Harry snorted so violently, he nearly spat his food back onto his plate.

Ron's cheeks had turned a little pink at the strain they were under. He had evidently tried to consume a whole plate of mashed potato all at once, but he was having a hard time chewing and swallowing. Harry slowly chewed his own food and swallowed, before letting out a shout of laughter. After a moment or two, Ron swallowed and sighed.

'Disgusting,' Hermione muttered as she elegantly ate her own meal. Ron, who clearly hadn't learnt his lesson, started to fill his mouth with beef.

The feast passed by in a haze of laughter, and the scraping of cutlery on plates and goblets hitting the wooden tables. Eventually, when the level of noise had perceptibly risen, Dumbledore rose to his feet, and the student body became quiet and watchful.

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!' Dumbledore beamed at them all. 'I hope you're all well fed and watered after that sumptuous feast. Now, a few things before bed. Ah yes...'

He cleared his throat.

'Any and all Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products have been banned by Mr Filch. I believe that takes the number of restricted items up to five hundred and forty eight. As always, the Forbidden Forest is off limits for all students! Also we, like so many previous years, have a couple of staffing changes. Firstly, I would like to welcome Professor Slughorn, who has kindly consented to return to the school to teach Potions...'

A portly man with a thick, bushy moustache stood up, gave a small wave and sat back down, but there was an outbreak of muttering. Why was this man teaching Potions? Snape was sat at the teacher's table, a smug expression on his face.

'Meanwhile,' Dumbledore called over the humming chatter. 'Professor Snape has agreed to teach Defence Against The Dark Arts this year...'

There was an eruption of cheers from the Slytherin table, and Snape smiled in a self-satisfied manner. Just looking at him made want Harry to punch or curse him. Eventually the Slytherin's cheers died down.

'Now, I think it's time you all got off to bed,' Dumbledore continued. 'You all need to be rested for your lessons in the morning. Good night.'

Immediately, the students pushed away from the tables and Hermione jumped to her feet and called down the table.

'First years, this way,' she called down the table.

The group of Gryffindor first years unconfidently stepped towards her, and none of them seemed to want to lead the pack. Hermione kindly chivvied them forward, while Ron and Harry took their well travelled shortcuts up to Gryffindor tower. They quickly found themselves in front of the Fat Lady.

'Password,' she asked, her voice unemotional.

'Aegis,' Ron said and the Fat Lady's portrait swung forward to reveal the Gryffindor portrait hole. Harry and Ron scrambled through it, crossed the cosy-as-always Gryffindor common room, and up the stairs to their dormitory, which had a plaque on it ,which now read "sixth years."

Harry and Ron were the first ones to reach their dormitory. They quickly changed into their pyjamas and climbed into their four poster beds.

'Going to tell me why Hermione is pissed off at you?' Ron asked quietly as Dean and Seamus had just entered the room.

'No,' Harry said flatly. 'It's personal.'

Ron looked taken aback.

'Why can't you tell me?'

'Because, it's complicated, and I don't really want to go into it right now,' Harry hissed. Ron looked slightly mollified and he bade everyone good night before closing his four poster's hangings with a wave of his wand.

Harry did the same, but lay awake for at least an hour. Sleep eventually took him but, yet again, Hermione intruded in his dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

 **This will be the last update for a couple of days. Work, y'know. Hopefully, I'll be updating in a couple of days.**

Harry's mood hadn't improved by morning. In fact, if anything, he seemed to be more annoyed than ever. He was the first to be dressed and out of the dormitory and one of the first into the Great Hall for breakfast. Katie Bell bounded up to him. He immediately noticed the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain's badge on her top.

'Congratulations Katie,' he forced a grin.

'Thanks,' she said. Katie was wearing a tank top and shorts. It was clear that she'd just finished an early morning run. 'I'm arranging Quidditch tryouts as soon as possible. We need to replace Angelina and Alicia, not to mention Kirke and Sloper. I'm going to hold tryouts for every position though Harry...'

Her tone was almost warning.

'I don't want to be accused of not trying out fresh blood. I'm only going to pick the best players too.'

'That's fair enough,' Harry agreed.

He thought he knew what she was trying to hint at. Ron's patchy performances the previous year hadn't exactly endeared him to Katie, despite his heroics in the last match against Ravenclaw when they had won the cup.

'Right, well, I'm going to try and book the pitch for Saturday morning,' she said.

'Yeah, I'll be there. I have a detention Saturday night though,' he said sheepishly.

'How?' Katie asked. 'We haven't even had a lesson yet?'

'I cursed Malfoy on the train. Detention from McGonagall. Saturday night, with Hagrid.'

Katie gave him a knowing look.

'I heard about that,' she mused for a moment, but then winked at Harry. 'Such a punishment.'

Harry laughed, despite himself, and nodded.

He sat down at the Gryffindor table and began loading his plate up with scrambled eggs and toast. He was halfway through his meal when Ron showed up. Hermione was no where to be seen.

'Seen Hermione this morning?' Ron asked conversationally.

'No,' Harry said. 'I saw Katie though. She got the captaincy. Trials for all positions are on Saturday morning.'

'Oh, right,' Ron said, a little despondently. 'All positions?'

'Yep,' Harry said unconcernedly. 'Even mine.'

'That's crazy,' Ron muttered. 'You're the best Seeker Gryffindor's had in years.'

'Maybe,' Harry said humbly. 'But, there might be someone better then me. You never know.'

Ron choked a little on his kipper as he laughed.

'I doubt that,' Ron grinned.

'Either way, trials are happening Saturday morning.'

Hermione turned up at the tail end of breakfast, ate a couple of slices of toast at the far end of the table and waited, like the rest of the Gryffindors, for Professor McGonagall to descend from the staff table and begin handing out timetables.

While McGonagall breezed through the first through fifth years, her progress was slowed considerably as she checked people's O.W.L's results against their electives for N.E.W.T's. Neville took a little longer than everyone else. Hermione was instantly cleared for all ten electives, but McGonagall paused at Harry's application.

'Why haven't you elected to take Potions at N.E.W.T. Level Potter?' Professor McGonagall asked.

'I thought I needed an O in my O.W.L?'

'True, but that was when Professor Snape was teaching. Professor Slughorn is perfectly willing to take students with an E. So, would you like to take Potions?'

'Sure,' Harry said quickly. 'I don't have any books though.'

'I'll inform Professor Slughorn,' she said as she tapped his timetable.

She handed him a completed timetable and a moment later did the same for Ron. They both had a free period, so they headed up to Gryffindor tower. Harry immediately went to grab a book from his trunk, while Ron tried to build a card castle out of an Exploding Snap deck.

Their free hour seemed to fly by, and Harry soon abandoned Ron to go down to Potions. He saw Hermoine in the dungeon corridor. He walked up to her.

'Good morning,' he said uncertainly.

She didn't deign to respond. She threw him a disgusted look. Unfortunately for her, as there were so few students in the N.E.W.T. Potions class, she ended up sharing a table with Harry and Ernie. Still, she scooted as far away from Harry as she could. Four Slytherins, four Ravenclaws, Harry, Hermione and Ernie MacMillan, a slightly pretentious Hufflepuff, were the only students carrying on with Potions. Annoyingly, Malfoy was taking Potions, but he seemed to not want to even look at Harry.

Harry briefly wondered if McGonagall had spoken to Malfoy about calling Hermione a Mudblood. He hoped that his threat was enough to keep Malfoy at bay. If it wasn't, he was ready to carry out his threat.

At that moment, Professor Slughorn came waddling into the class, and his vast belly preceded him through the doorway.

'Good morning sixth years,' he rumbled genially. 'Just a little bit of housekeeping first.'

He took a short register, and paused at Harry's name.

'Harry Potter?' Slughorn repeated incredulously. 'I am to teach _the_ Harry Potter?'

'Err, yeah,' Harry said embarrassedly.

'I hope you show just as much talent as your mother did, dear boy,' he beamed at him. 'Oh yes, I had the pleasure of teaching her and your father. Brilliant potioneer, your mother. Your father was pretty good too. I mean, Lily was the best in the class. Hopefully some of that talent was passed down.'

Malfoy snorted derisively. Luckily, Slughorn didn't seem to hear him, and carried on with the register. He turned to the blackboard.

'Now,' he said. 'Some of the potions listed on the board make up the core curriculum for your Potions N.E.W.T. They are extremely complicated to make, but hopefully not out of your levels of understanding or capability. Now, who can tell me anything about the Polyjuice potion?'

Hermione's well practiced hand shot into the air.

'Yes?' Slughorn said.

'The Polyjuice Potion is used for changing one's appearance. It is only effective for up to an hour, and must be drunk regularly to prolong the effects. It is gloopy and mud-like in texture and requires something of the person you want to change into, such as a hair.'

'Excellent,' beamed Slughorn. 'Take five point for Gryffindor. Now, who can tell me about Amortentia?'

Again, Hermione's hand shot into the air. Slughorn beamed and pointed at her.

'Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world,' Hermione said, sounding as if she was reciting the definition out of a book. 'It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from the potion in spirals. Amortentia smells different to each person, according to what attracts them.'

'Bravo,' boomed Slughorn. 'Take another five points for Gryffindor Miss Granger. Exactly. While Amortentia is unable to manufacture true love, it can create a strong bond of attraction for a certain person. Not exactly good news if it falls into less reputable hands, I dare say.'

The class continued with Hermione answering each of Slughorn's question impeccably. After twenty minutes, Slughorn set the class a task of creating the Draught of Living Death. Harry smiled to himself. He had made this potion so many times that he could whip it up in his sleep. In fact, he spent most of the lesson trying to talk to her Hermione, but she was resolutely ignoring him.

Five minutes before the end of the lesson, Slughorn called for the class to stop and start to pack away, while he graded their attempts. Both Harry and Hermione had achieved O's on their efforts and exultations from Slughorn at their brilliance.

The bell rang, and Harry followed Hermione into the courtyard where they were joined by Ron. They stood in stony silence, as Hermione seemed to want to continue her grudge against Harry. Ron, to his credit, tried to get them to talk, but it seemed as if she would take the bait.

Twenty, painful, minutes later, the bell rang again and they made their way back into the castle and up to the fourth floor for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Snape opened the door, and pointed into the classroom. Unlike Harry's Potions class, Defence Against the Dark Arts was full of students. Most of Dumbledore's Army had progressed onto N.E.W.T. Level with at least an E in their exam. Once all the students were sat at tables, Hermione had chosen to sit next to Neville, Snape slammed the classroom door shut.

'I must tell you that I was quite surprised so many of you passed your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.' Snape hissed silkily at the class. 'Given your patchy teaching in the subject, the fact that some of you managed to scrape O's is even more of a surprise. However, your efforts will have to improve tremendously if you are to keep up with the coursework required at N.E.W.T. Level.'

Snape moved to the front of the class.

'Now, who can tell me about non-verbal spells?'

Hermione's hand, like it had in Potions, shot into the air. After a moment, Snape seemed to resign himself to allowing Hermione to answer the question.

'Non-verbal spells are extremely useful in duels as they give you an element of surprise against your opponent,' she said quickly and Snape rolled his eyes. A stab of anger shot through Harry.

'A text book definition, but essentially correct. Now, at N.E.W.T. Level non-verbal spells will be required in this class. Today we will be practicing non-verbal spells. Split into pairs. One half will attempt to defend themselves without speaking, while the other will try to curse their partner, in equal silence.'

The class stood up, and with a wave of his wand, Snape forced the tables against the walls. The students paired up. Harry wanted to pair up with Hermione, but she resolutely kept her back to him and faced Neville. Harry paired up with Ron.

'Begin,' Snape hissed.

Ron immediately clamped his lips shut and pointed his wand at Harry. Harry wasn't really concentrating. He was still watching Hermione, who had her wand raised. It looked like Neville was attempting to curse her. After five minutes of complete silence, Snape waded through the pairs, making audibly snide comments about the Gryffindors for the Slytherins' enjoyment.

'Pathetic Weasley,' Snape said loudly, as he strode over to Harry and Ron. 'I'm not sure if you're trying to cast a non-verbal spell or pass a quaffle sized egg.'

Malfoy and the Slytherins roared with laughter.

'This is how you do it,' he grinned maliciously down at them.

He whipped around and directed his wand at Harry, who acted on instinct.

 _Protego Maxima,_ Harry shouted in his head.

An exceptionally strong shield charm erupted between him and Snape, whose curse rebounded off it. Harry didn't stop. His entire body went on auto-pilot. He twirled his wand and pointed it at Snape.

 _Repello,_ he thought.

Snape was blasted backwards across the room. The entire class went deadly still. As one they turned to stare at Harry.

'Potter!' Snape spat as he clambered to his feet. 'What was that?'

'I was doing what you told us to do, Professor,' Harry said venomously. 'I blocked your curse using a non-verbal spell and retaliated using a different non-verbal spell. I thought that was the whole point of the exercise?'

It was hard to tell who was angrier, Snape or Harry.

'Ten points from Gryffindor,' Snape said maliciously. 'I will not have you attempting to curse me, Potter.'

'Last time I checked, I hit you with a Blasting Hex,' Harry spat. 'It's not my fault if you can't block it in time.'

There was a collective intake of breath from the class. Snape advanced on Harry, who stood his ground, ready to defend himself again.

'Fifty points from Gryffindor,' Snape hissed. 'And a detention. I will not be spoken to like that.'

The rest of the class passed by in silence. People kept looking over at Harry, and Snape seemed to be giving him a wide berth. The class seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the lunch bell. Harry was the first one out of the class, Ron hot on his heels. Harry and Ron were already sat eating lunch, by the time Hermione sat down opposite them, her gaze on Harry.

'You shouldn't have done that,' she said levelly. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Harry kicked him from under the table.

'Why not?' Harry asked pleasantly.

'You cursed a teacher!' Hermione hissed at him, anger pouring out her. 'That could land you in serious trouble!'

'It was a blasting hex,' Harry replied dismissively. 'I just knocked him over.'

She scoffed at him and got up from the table and strode from the Great Hall. Harry abandoned his lunch and chased after her.

'Hey!' Harry called out to her. 'Why are you so annoyed with me about what happened in Defence?'

He knew it wasn't that. He knew exactly why she was annoyed with him.

She stopped dead and rounded on Harry.

'You!' Hermione shouted, pointing at him. 'How dare you!'

Harry stopped a few good steps away from her. Hermione's temper frightened him.

'How dare you,' Hermione shrieked at him, closing the gap between them in an instant, and poking him in the chest. 'How dare you presume!'

Ron had come into the Entrance Hall, and stared at the scene before him.

'I told you I didn't care!' Hermione shouted. 'I told you that I didn't care about any of it. I was willing to take the RISK! Because of you Harry Potter! I was willing to be in danger FOR YOU!'

Harry wanted to take a step back and run. Hermione's anger wouldn't be calmed down by rubbing the back of her hands. Professor McGonagall had come storming into the Entrance Hall.

'What is the meaning of this?' McGonagall hissed at them.

Hermione turned on her heel and fled up the stairs. Harry raced after her.

'Hey!' Harry shouted, anger coming to his defence now. 'How dare YOU!'

She stopped and slowly turned around to face him. There was a deadly fire in her eyes, and Harry subconsciously grabbed the handle of his wand.

'How dare you think that I don't want...' Harry stuttered into silence. 'I don't want you to get hurt or worse!'

'I told you I don't care about that!' Hermione shouted back. 'I still don't care about that!'

'But, I do!' Harry bellowed. 'How do you think I would feel if you got hurt because of me?'

'Not everything revolves around you,' she snapped coldly.

'You'd be in more danger than you already are!' Harry shouted desperately. 'I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt because of me...'

She let out a derisive noise and stormed away from him. Ron came running up the stairs and pulled Harry into an empty classroom.

'You like Hermione don't you,' Ron said perceptibly.

'Yeah,' Harry admitted sheepishly. He waited for the outbursts and accusations of betrayal.

'She likes you too,' Ron said, his voice strangely level. 'Doesn't she?'

'I guess,' Harry said, and Ron let out a scornful bark of laughter.

'You guess?' Ron asked incredulously. 'Wow, you really are an idiot.'

Harry stared at Ron.

'What?'

'Girl likes boy,' Ron said. 'Boy likes girl, but he's afraid that she might be hurt. Girl tells boy she doesn't care about that. Boy IGNORES what girl has told him. Yeah, you're an idiot.'

'What are you trying to get at?' Harry asked testily.

'It's Hermione's choice if she wants to ignore the danger of being with you. She's already done it, without knowing she's done it, for the past five years. In our second year, she got Petrified. Did she blame you?'

'No, but...' Harry started, but Ron cut him off.

'What about in our third year, when you two went back in time and came face to face with a werewolf and hundreds of Dementors? What about in fourth year, when all those rumours about you two were started by that cow, Rita Skeeter? What about the Ministry? She could have died...'

'That's why I said NO!' Harry bellowed. 'She could have DIED!'

'True,' Ron reasoned, his own voice rising a little now. 'But, she didn't. Instead of blaming you for every misfortune that we've gotten ourselves into, she's trying to tell you that she likes you!'

They were both quiet for a minute before Ron spoke again.

'Harry,' he said, his voice level. 'Let her in. Don't let You-Know-Who or the Death Eaters determine who you love. You'll always be alone. That's what they want. They want you to be alone, because you're less of a threat that way.'

Harry breathed heavily as something stirred in his mind.

'Didn't Hermione tell me that last year?'

'Yeah,' Ron grinned. 'Contrary to popular belief, I do actually listen to Hermione... Sometimes.'

They both chuckled, and Ron grabbed Harry's shoulder.

'Go for it, mate,' Ron said sincerely.

'What about you?' Harry asked.

'What about me?' Ron asked bemusedly.

'Well,' Harry paused. 'Didn't you...'

'Sort of,' Ron said. 'I dunno. I mean, I kind of do, but we argue way too much, don't we? I don't think Hermione would be able to put up with me for long mate, and I'm not stupid enough to risk our friendship for that.'

Harry nodded and let Ron steer him out of the room and into the corridor. Thoughts of lunch were forgotten and they slowly made their way up the stairs to Charms.

Hermione wasn't there. In fact, she didn't turn up at any point of the lesson. Harry and Ron explained to Professor Flitwick that Hermione wasn't feeling well, but she would hopefully be back for the next day's lesson.

Harry and Ron climbed the staircases and eventually made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady, gave her the password and clambered through the portrait hole. Hermione was curled up on the couch in front of the fire, her eyes oddly glassy. Ron gave Harry a significant look and nudged him towards her.

Harry took a couple of faltering steps, but she didn't look up. He was ready to cast silencing and memory charms on everyone in the common room, if she started shouting again. He didn't need another lecture from Professor McGonagall.

'Hi,' Harry said uncertainly. Hermione didn't even look at him or acknowledge that he had even said anything. She just continued to stare into the fire. 'I'm sorry.'

Again, there was no response.

'Hermione,' Harry continued, while Ron watched them from across the room. He knelt down in front of her. 'Talk to me.'

She turned her head to face him, a supremely cold expression on her face.

'Oh, now you want to talk?' Her voice was somehow a lot icier than the look she was giving him.

'Hermione, please,' Harry said softly. 'I don't want you to get hurt.'

'I've told you, I don't care about that,' she replied, her voice still icy.

'I do though,' Harry insisted. 'It would tear me apart if anything happened to you. I don't want to lose you like I lost Sirius.'

'It was his choice to go to the Department of Mysteries,' she told him, and her words sounded like a record on repeat in his head. 'Like it's my choice to want to be with you.'

'Hermione, I can't give Voldemort another way to get at me...'

She jumped to her feet so fast, that Harry fell back onto his arse. He was sprawled on the floor and Hermione towered over him. Her icy demeanour was gone, but it had been replaced with searing hot anger and rage.

'I'm not some puppet in your war against Voldemort!' Her voice was a hiss, but Harry would have preferred it if she had shouted. 'I will not let someone like Voldemort define who I can or cannot be with! If you can't do the same, then maybe we should go our separate ways.'

Harry's heart broke. He couldn't take it anymore. His desperation propelled him to his feet.

'Don't you think that I want, more than anything in the world, is to be free of Voldemort?' Harry yelled. He had stopped caring about the burgeoning audience in the common room. 'I want to live a NORMAL life, Hermione! One where I can be with who I want, or do what I want, without the threat of someone dying for me! You don't know what it's like...'

Ron waved his wand and cast a silencing charm around them. The crowd turned to stare at him.

'They don't need you nosy bastards listening in,' he told them waspishly. 'Go on, clear off.'

Reluctantly, the crowd split up and ignored the completely silent figures, shouting at each other in the corner of the common room.

'… Living with the fact that your parents are dead because of you. Or that your godfather is DEAD because of YOU! You have no idea!'

'Oh, I have an idea,' snarled Hermione. 'I know exactly what's it has been like being around you. I saw, FIRST-HAND, what it's like being around you. I've been Petrified and nearly kissed by a Dementor. I saw what happened to you after you came out of that maze two years ago. You were a wreck. You shouted at me and Ron for no reason! You took out your anger and hurt on us! We stood by you! We both know what it means to be Harry Potter's friends.'

'Friends is different,' Harry snapped.

'I know that,' Hermione shrieked, so loudly that Ron's silencing charm around them broke. The entire common room went deadly quiet. 'I know friendship is different. I've told you time and time again that I don't care about the danger, or Voldemort, or the Death Eaters, or...'

She stuttered into silence. Harry was staring intently at her.

'Maybe we shouldn't be friends,' Harry said quietly. 'Maybe we should go our separate ways. You'll be safer.'

Hermione's jaw dropped. So did Ron's, as did a lot of other people's. Harry turned away from her and strode up to his dormitory and grabbed his broomstick. He raced back down the stairs, through the still shocked statues of his fellow Gryffindors in the common room, and out of the portrait hole.

He ran, flat out, his lungs bursting in pain, willing him to slow down and breathe. He stopped at the castle doors and panted, but it felt as if he couldn't breathe. His lungs felt as if they were on fire, and not because of his impromptu run. His mind was in overdrive. He pushed open the doors, and sprinted, flat out, towards the Quidditch pitch.

So soon as he was on the velvety grass, he mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground. He soared at full speed around the Quidditch pitch, before starting on a sort of rollercoaster ride around the stadium and pitch. He became increasingly riskier, his turns became sharper and faster. A couple of times, he nearly fell off his broom, but he didn't care.

Hitting the ground from a height of fifty feet wouldn't hurt as much as he was already hurting. As he swerved in mid-air, high above the pitch, he spotted a tall figure walk onto the pitch. The silvery hair and beard were distinctive, even from Harry's position. Harry slowly guided his Firebolt back to ground, and dismounted in front of Albus Dumbledore.

'Good evening, Harry,' Dumbledore said pleasantly. 'Had a good first day back, I hear?'

Harry didn't say anything, and Dumbledore chuckled.

'I have spoken to Professor Snape and advised him that punishments cannot be handed out to students who are following their instructions correctly. As such, your detention with him has been revoked. I cannot however, replaced the house points he took from you...'

'I don't care,' Harry snapped irritably. If Dumbledore was taken aback, he didn't show it.

'I also heard your shouting match with Miss Granger,' he said softly, and Harry's heart seemed to break anew. 'I hope you've both made up and are the best of friends again?'

'Sort of,' Harry said.

'Meaning?' Dumbledore asked genially.

'We've stopped being friends,' Harry admitted through gritted teeth. 'It's safer.'

This time, Dumbledore's shock registered on his face.

'Harry, it would be unwise of you to push away your friends now,' he said solemnly. 'You will need allies in your fight against Voldemort. Miss Granger and Mr Weasley would be advantageous to have on your side.'

'No,' Harry said flatly. 'They'll be in more danger...'

'Harry,' Dumbledore chided softly. 'We are all in danger. I do believe that your friends would be in less danger if you were to stay with them.'

Harry snorted.

'Yeah, because it worked so well the first time,' he blurted out.

Harry froze. He thought that it had been an internal comment, not uttered. He stared up at Dumbledore.

'Harry, what do you mean by that?'

'Nothing,' Harry replied quickly, but Dumbledore fixed him with a piercing gaze. He wavered and became resigned to the fact that he couldn't lie to his Headmaster. 'I'm not your Harry.'

Dumbledore took a step back and withdrew his wand. Harry pulled his own out, ready to duel.

'I am Harry,' Harry said quickly. 'Just not your Harry. It's complicated.'

'Maybe you should explain it to me then,' Dumbledore said. 'But, perhaps not here. Maybe my office?'

Harry nodded and they both walked back to the castle in silence. It took a surprisingly short time to ascend through the castle and arrive outside the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office.

Once Dumbledore had sat down behind his desk, he motioned for Harry to take the chair opposite him.

'I suggest you start from the beginning,' Dumbledore said.

'Well, where I'm from, Voldemort won the war. He's taken over the Wizarding community and is slaughtering Muggles left, right and centre. I'm from the future,' Harry explained, but Dumbledore didn't look shocked.

'Given my Harry's, or your own, history with a time turner, I suppose that it's not out of the realm of possibility. However, I was under the impression that all of the Ministry's time turners had been destroyed last term.'

'In my time, they had been replaced. Hermione and I broke into the Ministry and took one. She charmed it to go beyond the normal ability of rewinding a couple of hours.'

'Remarkable,' Dumbledore said. 'Miss Granger managed to remove a time turner's limiter. I would have believed that it was impossible.'

'Hermione found a way,' Harry grinned to himself. 'Anyway, the plan was for us to go back in time and stop Voldemort before he got too powerful. I wanted to save as many people as I could. The plan went wrong though. We were ambushed before we could both go back in time and my Hermione was killed. I carried on with the plan, and managed to escape to this time. I arrived about a week and half into the summer holidays. I stunned this time's Harry, took him back to Privet Drive, and altered his trunk. I put him into the trunk and assumed my younger form. He's still in my trunk. Hermione developed a potion called the Draught of Catatonia. It basically keeps my younger self in stasis. I'll age, but don't require food or water to survive. It's as if I'm going to sleep.'

Harry paused, his voice starting to scratch his throat.

'Anyway, I've come back to prepare the others to fight Voldemort properly, and to learn more ways of how to defeat him. I know about the Horcruxes and I know where most of them are, apart from one. Hermione and I managed to destroy three Horcruxes, but couldn't figure out the last hidden one or kill the snake.'

Dumbledore looked shocked. He had wanted to tell Harry about the Horcruxes and bestow upon him the mission of finally defeating Voldemort. It seemed that it was moot now, however.

'I still need lessons,' Harry continued earnestly. 'Instead of Horcruxes, I need you to teach me Occlumency. It will enable me to delve into Voldemort's mind without damage and find out where he is and what he is doing. I'm going to need that. If you could, Legilimency would help too. I never managed to get the hang of it.'

'How far into your past have you travelled?' Dumbledore asked.

'Five years,' he said. 'This was our final plan. This had to work.'

'Why this summer? Surely you could have gone further back in time?'

'Why didn't I save Sirius?' Harry asked, forestalling Dumbledore's question. 'Sirius was happier dead.'

His words were so bald and sharp that Dumbeldore winced.

'Sirius hated the last part of his life. He was bored and felt neutered. At least he's with my Mum and Dad now,' Harry said. 'It would be incredibly selfish of me to deny him happiness for my own needs.'

Dumbeldore hadn't expected Harry's answer to be so mature.

'I can save the people who died fighting Voldemort though,' Harry continued. 'Hermione; Ginny; Neville; Luna; Molly; Arthur; Kingsley... You.'

'Harry,' Dumbledore said softly. 'That is very noble of you, but wouldn't it be better to leave them, us, in peace? Also, I take it Mr Weasley survived along with you?'

Harry snorted derisively.

'He was turned by Voldemort. Ron became a Death Eater after his parent's death. His last words to me were, "if you can't beat them, join them." I hated him ever since then. I'm trying to be a better friend to him this time, though. Hopefully, if we save Molly and Arthur, then he won't go over to Voldemort.'

'What is your exact plan?' Dumbledore asked.

'I'm preparing myself and I'm going to make sure that the members of the DA are ready to go toe-to-toe with Voldemort himself. I'm going to keep on going with the DA sessions and we will be ready for this war.'

Harry spoke do determinedly, that Dumbledore merely looked at him for a few moments.

'That is a noble gesture and plan,' he said softly. 'I will assist you in any way that you require.'

'I need a signed permission form for the restricted section. I need to know every weapon at Voldemort's and the Death Eater's disposal. I need a way to combat it. I've already asked Ron to help me with separate duelling practice.'

'I will send one to Madam Pince in the morning,' Dumbledore said promptly. 'When would you like to start your Occlumency lessons?'

'As soon as possible,' Harry said. 'The quicker I can master it, the earlier I can start using it as a weapon.'

'Harry,' Dumbledore said softly. 'Miss Granger needs her friend back.'

'No,' Harry said austerely. 'She would be safer away from me.'

'Do you plan to arm the DA and then abandon them?'

'No,' Harry said, completely disarmed. 'Why...'

'Then do not push Miss Granger away. I take it that there has been a change in your relationship?'

'She wants to start something, but I don't want her to get hurt. She says she doesn't care...'

'Tell me,' Dumbledore interrupted delicately. 'Did you love your time's Hermione.'

'Yeah,' Harry admitted, going a little bit red. It felt weird to be talking about Hermione to Dumbledore.

'This time's Miss Granger has told you that she doesn't care about the dangers of being in a relationship with you?' Dumbledore continued, and Harry nodded.

'Then apologise to her,' he said simply. 'Apologise to her, and tell her that you will protect her from Voldemort to the best of your ability. She is not deluding herself, Harry. She has been your friend since the age of eleven. She knows, full well, the dangers. She's just willing to look past that to be with you. You are doing her a great disservice by not allowing her to make her own choice about wanting to be in a relationship with you.'

Harry stared into Dumbledore's eyes.

'What if she get's hurt?' Harry asked croakily. 'I can't lose her again.'

'You will know the dangers better and be better equipped. You will have another reason to succeed Harry. Not only defeating Voldemort and saving hundreds of lives, but keeping her safe. I daresay that, alone, will be more than enough incentive.'

Harry nodded.

'Good,' said Dumbledore happily. 'Now, I suggest you get back to Gryffindor tower and get some sleep.'

Harry nodded again, and made his way over to the door.

'Harry,' he called and Harry turned to face him. 'Just be mindful of the girl's staircase. The founders trusted girl's judgements better than boy's.'

Harry grinned.

'I know,' he said and Dumbledore chuckled.

'Well, not all boys have bad intentions do they?' Dumbledore asked knowingly and Harry nodded and left the office.

It felt weird to Harry as he walked along the corridor, down to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Now that Dumbledore knew, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. He was happy that Dumbeldore had believed him, and had offered all of his help in fighting Voldemort and helping prepare the DA for the fight.

Harry gave the Fat Lady the password, clambered through the portrait hole and made his way over to the girl's dormitory staircase. He tentatively placed a foot on the bottom step. Nothing happened. He slowly climbed the staircase, and reached the fifth step. He waited for the clunking and the steps to morph into a slide but it never came. He slowly ascended the spiralling staircase and stopped outside the sixth year's dormitory. He knocked on the door.

There was no answer. He tentatively pushed the door open and peered inside. All of the four poster beds had their curtains shut. There was a pleasant smell in the room too, unlike his own dormitory. He spied Hermione's trunk from across the room, and softly made his way over to her bed.

'Hermione,' he hissed. 'Hermione, are you awake?'

Nothing.

Harry pried apart the curtains and came face-to-face with the tip of Hermione's wand.

'What do you want?' Hermione whispered coldly.

'I need to apologise,' he said softly. 'I was being an idiot.'

'Yes, you were,' she agreed, but her expression didn't soften.

'I know you don't care about the dangers of being with me, but it would crush me if something happened to you.'

'Harry,' she sighed exasperatedly. It seemed as if they were going in circles.

'Hang on, I'm not finished yet,' he said. 'I've had some time to think.'

'Hurt much?' Hermione shot at him and Harry ignored the disparaging comment. He'd earned it.

'I'm not being a good friend by thinking that you're deluding yourself about the threat of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. I know you're not. I want you to know, that I didn't mean what I said earlier. I don't want to lose you as a friend, but I don't want you to be in any more danger than you already are. So, I've come up with an idea. You won't put yourself in any dangerous situations, and I'll protect you as much as I can from Voldemort. We will have to be extremely careful too.'

'What if you start to think that it's too dangerous for me?'

'I'll make sure that you can handle yourself,' Harry insisted. 'You, and everyone else in the DA, but especially you.'

Hermione's wand arm dropped and she was kissing him, daring him to kiss her back. He took up the challenge and wrapped his arm around her, his Firebolt falling to the floor with a small thump.

It lay forgotten as Harry and Hermione lost themselves in the kiss. They eventually broke apart, both panting for breath.

'You should go,' she advised. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

Harry nodded, grabbed his Firebolt and softly padded his way out of the room. He quickly descended the girl's staircase and made his way up to his own dormitory.

 _Dumbledore was right,_ Harry thought as he changed into his pyjamas. _He needed Hermione more than ever now._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

 **A/N: I tried so so hard. I just couldn't keep them apart.**

 **A/N: This chapter took forever to write. Sorry about that.**

Harry awoke the next morning to find Ron staring down at him.

'You're alive then,' he remarked with a wide grin on his face. 'I put your Firebolt back into your trunk for you. You left it on the floor. You must have flown around the Quidditch pitch.'

'Yeah,' Harry mumbled. He didn't feel like telling Ron the complete story of his evening. 'I spoke to Dumbledore too.'

'And?' Ron asked eagerly.

'He's going to teach me Occlumency and help me with my research. Hopefully he's left a note with Madam Pince allowing me into the restricted section of the library. He spoke to me about Hermione too.'

'Well,' Ron demanded, after a moment's silence from Harry.

'We talked,' Harry said evasively and Ron grinned.

'So you and Hermione...'

'We're talking again,' Harry replied, determinedly keeping his face buried into his trunk as he search for clean socks.

Ron let out a whoop of laughter.

'Ha ha,' he crowed. 'How did you do that? Last time I saw Hermione, she was running up to her dormitory.'

'I had my ways,' Harry replied evasively.

'Did you fly up to her window?' Ron asked and Harry was faintly startled at the idea.

 _Maybe that would have been easier,_ Harry thought. _Less likely to have been caught in the girl's dormitory anyway._

'Not exactly,' Harry replied slowly. Ron frowned.

'How then?'

'Don't want to talk about it,' Harry said quickly, as Neville raced back into the room to grab his school bag.

Ron harrumphed slightly and grabbed his bag.

'Come on,' he urged. 'We need to get down to breakfast. I'm starving.'

Hermione wasn't waiting for them in the common room. People stared at Harry as he passed, and he even had a few disgusted looks thrown his way, but he ignored them. He and Hermione were... Well, he didn't know what he and Hermione were right now, but he was both excited and trepidatious to find out.

Hermione was sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and was sipping coffee when Harry and Ron entered. They sat opposite her.

'Morning,' she said brightly. 'Sorry I didn't wait for you, but I was starving.'

She had a cleared plate, and both Harry and Ron started to fill their plates with eggs and bacon.

'We have Transfiguration first thing this morning,' Hermione observed idly, as a barn owl landed in front of her carrying the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet.

'Anyone we know?' Ron asked, but Hermione didn't answer him. She was scanning the front page.

'No,' she eventually replied. 'No deaths or sudden disappearances. Either the Prophet isn't reporting them or...'

'Voldemort may have gone to ground,' Harry supplied for her. 'Weird. I would have thought he would step up his plans now that everyone knows he's back.'

'Maybe,' Hermione mused slowly. 'But as we don't know what he's up to, we can only guess why he may have gone to ground. Dumbledore said himself that Voldemort prefers to operate in the shadows.'

'I have a couple of free periods after Transfiguration. I'm going to go to the library and start researching,' Harry said and Hermione nodded.

'I have Ancient Runes after lunch, but I can help you before then,' she said. Ron stared between them.

'Okay, what exactly happened last night?' Ron demanded, but Harry and Hermione didn't answer him. Malfoy had swaggered over, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him.

'Well, well, well,' he drawled. 'Trouble in paradise I hear?'

'What do you want Malfoy?' Harry asked viciously.

'Tut, tut, Potter,' he leered. 'You should really learn some manners. What happened on the train won't fly here.'

'I dare you to try,' Harry growled.

'A word of advice Potter,' Malfoy hissed quietly. 'Help the Mudblood keep that bushy head of hers down. With the Dark Lord back, her kind will be stamped out.'

Harry and Ron both leapt to their feet, and Harry's wand was in Malfoy's face faster than anyone could have blinked.

'I warned you!'

'Potter!' It was Professor McGonagall. She was storming down to them from the teacher's table, an irate expression on her face. 'What is the meaning of this?'

'I'm about to do something his parents should have done,' Harry replied coldly. 'Teach him some manners.'

Malfoy's hand twitched towards his wand, but Harry's was pointed directly between his eyes.

'Put your wand away this instant,' she demanded, but Harry's aim did not waver.

'I warned you Malfoy,' Harry said, his voice dangerously low. 'I warned you what would happen if you called Hermione a Mudblood ever again.'

Professor McGonagall whipped out her wand.

'Protego,' she said, and Harry and Malfoy were pushed away from each other by the spell.

'Ten points from Gryffindor,' she called. 'And ten points from Slytherin for this shameless exhibition. Mr Potter, may I remind you that using magic on another student is strictly prohibited. Mr Malfoy, your choice of language is completely unacceptable. I will be talking to Professor Snape about this. Now, both of you, either return to your breakfast or head onto class.'

Her glasses flashed dangerously. Harry slowly lowered his wand and pocketed it. He continued to glare at Malfoy, as the blonde boy sloped back towards the Slytherin table, Crabbe and Goyle looking faintly disappointed at the lack of a fight. Professor McGonagall stepped in front of Harry, blocking his view of Malfoy.

'Potter, come with me,' she said.

Harry reluctantly followed her out of the Great Hall and into the deserted Entrance Hall, where she rounded on him.

'Potter, believe me, I find your willingness to defend Miss Granger from Malfoy's insults, very chivalrous, but I will not have you breaking school rules by threatening to curse another student. No matter how goading their remarks are.'

Harry looked up at her.

'I wasn't threatening,' he said, his voice strangely level.

'Excuse me,' she said.

'I wasn't threatening,' he repeated. 'I was going to curse him. I was thinking of the best combination of hexes to send him home to his mother looking and smelling like a particularly disgusting piece of...'

'Potter,' she scolded. 'I will pretend that I did not hear that. It is unwise for you to continue to butt heads with Mr Malfoy. There is only so much I or anyone else can do if you follow through on your threats and harm him.'

'I don't care,' Harry replied truthfully. 'I really don't care if you kick me out. I will not have anyone call Hermione a Mudblood.'

At that moment, Hermione and Ron came running into the Entrance Hall. Professor McGonagall glanced at them and then refocused her gaze onto Harry.

'I shall see you in my class in five minutes Potter,' she said sternly. 'I will expect you to not have cursed Mr Malfoy.'

She turned on her heel and walked up the stairs towards the first floor.

'Did you get a detention?' Ron asked anxiously.

'No,' Harry replied. 'Just a warning.'

'Harry,' Hermione said softly. 'I don't need you to attempt to hex Malfoy every time he gets near me. I'm stronger than you think.'

'I know that,' Harry said quickly. 'I do. I just don't want him or anyone else calling you a Mudblood. You're aren't less magical than they are because your parents are Muggles.'

Hermione leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.

'Thank you,' she whispered. Ron turned an embarrassed shade of pink and cleared his throat.

'You two are...' Ron mumbled. 'Are...'

'Friends again?' Hermione grinned at him mischievously.

'I was going to say going out, but...' Ron said, but at his words Harry and Hermione blushed.

'We...' Harry started.

'We're...' Hermione interrupted, but her voice died in her throat.

'It's okay,' Ron said. 'I'm just glad you two are talking. I didn't fancy seeing you two shout at each other again.'

Together, the three of them headed up the stairs and waited for the bell to ring outside the Transfiguration classroom.

After the rest of their class had lined up behind them, Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door and beckoned them inside. Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to their usual table at the back of the classroom. Ron, however, deliberately chose to sit on Harry's left side, so that Harry and Hermione would be next to each other.

'Just do me one favour,' Ron muttered as they took their books, quills, ink bottles and parchment out of their bags. 'Don't start snogging in public every chance you get.'

Harry and Hermione blushed a little again and they spent the first half of the lesson in silence as Professor McGonagall explained the task for the lesson, which was to be starting to learn the Bird-Conjuring Charm.

Once the class had made complicated notes on the complexities of conjuring vertebrates from nothing, McGonagall set them to work.

'What's the spell again?' Ron asked.

'Avis,' Harry replied before Hermione could answer. 'It's a short slapping motion.'

'Huh,' Ron replied, as he moved his wand. 'Avis!'

Nothing happened.

'Are you sure you're concentrating?' Hermione asked.

'Of course I am,' Ron replied. 'I'm just not that good.

'Avis,' Harry said, moving his wand at the same time. There was a bang and two twittering yellow birds exploded out of the tip of his wand.

'Excellent Potter,' Professor McGonagall said from behind them, making all three jump a little. 'Now, Mr Weasley, why don't you try again?'

'Avis,' Ron said loudly, waving his wand. Again, nothing happened.

'Mr Weasley, this is not magic that you would be able to achieve with your mind on your dinner. You must concentrate.'

Ron made an indistinct noise, and nodded. She gave him a stern look and moved away from their table.

'It's as if she thinks that I don't try,' Ron grumbled.

'Avis,' Hermione said, moving her wand. There was another loud bang and a trio of bluebirds shot out her wand tip.

'You could at least back me up,' Ron grumbled at them. Hermione looked a little uncomfortable.

'Well...'

'Great,' Ron snapped. 'Thanks a bunch Hermione.'

'Lay off her,' Harry muttered. 'It's not like you've been a whiz at Transfiguration is it?'

'I'm just not that good at it okay? Make you feel better?' Ron asked snappishly. 'Also, since when did you always take her side? We're supposed to be best mates.'

'Ron, she's kind of got a point,' Harry hissed. 'It's not that difficult. Just keep thinking about birds.'

'Does she have a name?' Ron asked sarcastically and Harry laughed.

'Whatever helps,' Harry grinned. Despite himself, Ron laughed too.

'Avis,' he said and, to his great surprise, his wand produced one single feathery ball with wings. It was hard to tell what type of bird it was. 'New type of bird you reckon?'

'Dunno,' Harry chuckled and Hermione giggled.

The rest of their lesson passed amiably, with Ron and Harry cracking the occasional joke and laughing at Ron's continued attempts to produce more distinctive birds. The bell for break rung through the castle and they hastily packed their things away and headed to the library. Their chatter died as they stepped into the dusty mausoleum. Harry led the way over to Madam Pince and cleared his throat to get her attention.

'What do you want?' Madam Pince snapped.

'I'd like access to the restricted section,' Harry said confidently. 'Professor Dumbledore might have left a permission slip.'

'He came to see me,' she sniffed. 'I don't have permission to let Mr Wesley or Miss Granger in with you.'

'I need their help,' Harry protested and Madam Pince looked haughtily at him.

'You have permission Potter, not them,' she retorted. 'If they have permission then they can have use of the restricted section as well. Until then.'

Harry turned back to Ron and Hermione and sighed.

'Why don't you two grab some books on curse and hex deflection. I'll have a quick look around and see if I can find anything useful.'

They nodded and split up. Harry was escorted to the restricted section, and hurried inside, leaving Madam Pince standing guard. He had searched for ten whole minutes before finding something that piqued his interest.

'The Darkest Arts and Their Uses in Duelling,' Harry read aloud.

He slipped the book off the shelf and read the contents. It certainly looked like it had a lot of dark curses in it. He placed it on a nearby table and whipped out his wand.

'Geminio,' Harry muttered, pointing his wand at the book.

Instantly, a perfect copy burst from the original and Harry quickly slipped the copy back onto the shelf, before stuffing the original into his bag. He kept searching, and after hearing Madam Pince tut impatiently, Harry returned from the depths of the restricted section with five books in his arms.

Harry carried them over to a free table, and Madam Pince huffily stalked back to her desk. Ron and Hermione hurried over to him a moment later.

'Find anything good?' Ron asked under his breath.

'Maybe,' Harry said. 'I duplicated it and put the copy back on the shelf. I'll have about a week to get the original back though.'

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent their combined free hour searching and researching through the books that they had thought would be useful. Harry became absorbed in the books about the Dark Arts and had even begun to try a couple of the incantations, but without his wand. He didn't want to run the risk of accidentally hurting someone.

After lunch, Hermione left for Ancient Runes, while Harry and Ron went back to Gryffindor Tower to continue their studying. Professor McGonagall had set them a fifteen inch essay on the Bird-Conjuring Charm, but Harry decided that Voldemort was the more pressing problem.

An hour later, Harry and Ron were outside the Charms classroom waiting for Hermione. She arrived just before class started, a little out of breath.

'What happened to you?' Harry asked.

'M-,' Hermione said. Harry didn't hear the rest of her answer. He had stormed away. He knew that the Ravenclaws shared Herbology with the Slytherins. Harry raced through the thinning crowds and burst out into the grounds. Ron and Hermione were a long way behind him, running at full pelt trying to catch up.

'I warned you,' Harry roared as soon as he saw the sleekly white blonde head of Draco. 'I warned you Malfoy.'

He whipped his wand out and pointed it at Malfoy. Anger seemed to inflate him like a balloon as his blood pounded in his ears. A red mist was starting to descend.

Malfoy turned around just in time, his wand already out.

'Expulenum,' Harry shouted in his head.

As a bolt of energy raced towards Malfoy, Ron and Hermione came out into the grounds and saw Harry. Malfoy reacted quicker than Harry had thought.

'Protego,' he said. 'Tarantallegra!'

Harry parried it with a silent wave of his wand. His pointed his wand at Malfoy's chest, and a stream of hexes and curses sprung to his mind.

Malfoy was blasted in the chest three times before anyone realised what was happening. He was beginning to turn into a shapeless mass, as Harry continued to hex and curse. Hermione ran forward withdrawing her own wand.

'Protego,' she shouted.

The shield charm erupted between Harry and Malfoy. Harry's curses rocketed into the shield, but it didn't break. Hermione ran forward and stepped in front of Harry, who's eyes had turned dark, almost black. He crackled with anger, hatred and magical energy. Hermione felt goosebumps erupt over her body. It was as if she had been hit with static energy. There was a faint buzzing.

Hermione reached up and grabbed Harry's wand hand. Instantly, the curses stopped and her shield charm sputtered before disappearing. She turned to face the Ravenclaws.

'Help Malfoy to the hospital wing,' she said quickly as Crabbe and Goyle advanced on her and Harry.

She pointed her wand at them, and they stopped in their tracks. Hermione wasn't to be trifled with, not even on a good day. Harry was breathing heavily, his eyes were still black. Hermione was scared. She knew Harry wouldn't harm her, but she wasn't so sure about the others.

Two Ravenclaw boys hurried forward and squeamishly picked up Malfoy and awkwardly carried him into the castle. Hermione put her wand back into the pocket of her robes and placed her now free hand onto his chest and nudged him back.

He didn't move but something seemed to change. Harry's eyes began to turn back to green. His normal eye colour seemed to burst from the black like stars in the night sky. Harry's breathing started to become less haggard, more normal. His body relaxed and Hermione could feel the static lift from her skin. The magical energy that seemed to be crackling around him dissipated like steam into the air.

Within a blink of an eye, Harry was looking down at her, faintly surprise to see her holding his wrist and pushing his backwards slightly.

'We need to get out of here,' she said firmly and Harry nodded. Ron hurried forward.

'Come on,' he muttered. 'We're late for Charms.'

It was hours later, when Harry was reading in the library, that the repercussions of his actions caught up to him.

'Reading alone this time Harry?'

Harry looked up from his book and saw Dumbledore standing before him.

'Professor,' Harry said quickly, and he jumped to his feet.

Dumbledore had a particularly sombre expression on his face.

'Please sit down,' Dumbledore said gravely and Harry returned to his seat. 'I heard about the incident with Mr Malfoy.'

Harry didn't say anything. Dumbledore looked for any emotion in Harry's features, but found none. Not even remorse.

'You will surely be pleased to know that Mr Malfoy will make a full recovery,' Dumbledore said delicately.

'Not really,' Harry muttered.

'I must commend you on your restraint Harry,' Dumbledore said. 'From what Miss Granger and Mr Weasley have told me, you could have done some serious harm to Mr Malfoy.'

Harry barked a laugh.

'Ha. That was a warning,' Harry said. If Dumbledore was surprised, or stunned by the viciousness in Harry's voice, he didn't show it.

'Well,' Dumbledore said softly. 'Maybe it was a good thing that Miss Granger was there to step between you. Given the severity of the curses inflicted on Mr Malfoy, I do have one question. How was Miss Granger able to cast a shield charm to stop the flow of hexes and curses?'

'I don't know,' Harry said truthfully. 'I lost control. I just wanted to hurt him so badly. I lost it. I only came around after Hermione pushed me away from him. I don't even know what curses I used. I only know that I could have done far worse.'

This time Dumbledore couldn't keep the surprise off his features.

'Harry, that is very serious. I appreciate that you wish to keep Miss Granger safe, but I will not have you endangering any student's life. If you are unable to keep your emotions in check...'

'That wasn't even close to what I was capable of,' Harry said dismissively. 'I've done worse.'

'Really?' Dumbledore asked sombrely. 'How much worse?'

'They never found the remains of Crabbe, Goyle and Nott.'

'I take it that you're talking about their fathers?'

'Yep,' Harry said, picking up his book again. 'I will not apologise for hurting Malfoy. I warned him. He took it too far. He's lucky to be alive. If it hadn't have been for Hermione...'

'That is a very serious thing to say,' Dumbledore said grimly.

'It's true,' Harry replied plainly. 'I'm not here to spare the feelings of anyone who wants to hurt Hermione. Malfoy should feel lucky, and start to reevaluate his life.'

'Why?'

'He was saved by someone, who he thinks is beneath him,' Harry said savagely. 'He should grovel at Hermione's feet.'

'Harry,' Dumbledore said. 'I know that you have come back to save those who you couldn't the first time, but like I said, I will not tolerate you putting any student's life in danger. No matter how badly they have acted. If you have to be separated from the student body, then so be it.'

Harry looked up at him, and searched Dumbledore for something. There was something vaguely familiar to the Headmaster about it.

'Are you trying to implement Legilimency?' Dumbledore asked.

'Yes,' Harry admitted. 'Like I said, I was never any good at it. I still need you to teach me.'

'Then we shall make a deal,' Dumbledore said. 'You will not harm another student, and I will teach you Occlumency. I believe that you wanted to start lessons as soon as possible?'

'Yes,' Harry replied. 'When?'

'How about Friday night?' Dumbledore asked. 'You have a detention on Saturday night, correct?'

Harry nodded and Dumbledore broke into a small smile.

'Then we have a deal?' Harry asked.

Harry nodded and Dumbledore offered him his hand. Harry took it and shook it.

'Excellent,' Dumbledore replied. 'Then I shall see you Friday night then Harry.'

Harry nodded and Dumbledore turned on his heel and strode away. Harry tried to return to his book, but his thoughts were distracted by his conversation with Dumbledore. How had Hermione managed to stop him? His curses were more powerful than a normal fifteen year old's, but she had managed to stop him and protect Malfoy. He needed to talk to her.

He snapped the book shut, left it on the table, grabbed his bag and strode out of the library. He raced up the numerous staircases, through tapestries and secret passageways and quickly found himself in front of the Fat Lady. He gave her the password and clambered through the portrait hole.

Hermione and Ron were sitting in armchairs by the fire conversing in hushed tones. Harry walked up to them and dropped his bag next to a free armchair and collapsed into it. Most of Gryffindor had gone to bed. Hermione and Ron looked at him with anxious looks on their faces.

'Well?' Ron asked hopefully.

'Dumbledore found me in the library. He tried to make me feel sorry about cursing Malfoy, but I don't.' The viciousness in Harry's voice made Hermione wince. Harry sighed. 'But, he did arrange my first real Occlumency lesson and he gave me something to think about.'

'What?' Hermione asked.

'You,' Harry said and Hermione looked startled. 'Well, how you managed to stop me from cursing Malfoy even more. I mean my curses were apparently more powerful then normal and you managed to stop them with a basic shield charm.'

'Basic?' Hermione asked, a little hurt.

'I didn't mean it like that,' Harry assured her quickly. 'I meant that more advanced shield charms would have struggled to cope with the types of curses I was using.'

'How much do you remember?' Ron asked.

'I remember you running to up us outside Charms,' Harry told Hermione. 'Then... Nothing until you were holding my wrist and pushing me away from Crabbe and Goyle.'

'It was scary,' Ron said. 'I could feel the magic even from where I was.'

'It felt like static and I kept getting goosebumps,' Hermione said.

She reached out and grabbed Harry's hand. She could feel a thin scar underneath her thumb. It was the one he had carved into his own hand because of Umbridge the previous year. Just thinking about it made a flash of anger shoot through her.

'But,' she continued. 'I knew you wouldn't hurt me.'

'How?' Harry asked perplexedly.

'I don't know,' she said softly. 'I just knew. But it was scary. Your eyes had gone black. Completely black and I could feel your heartbeat. It was going really fast. Is Malfoy going to be okay?'

'Yeah,' Harry said indifferently. 'Madam Pomfrey's the best isn't she?'

'You should know,' Ron joked and Harry laughed.

'Yeah,' Harry admitted. 'I'm surprised that I don't have my own bed.'

Harry turned his hand over and squeezed Hermione's. She smiled weakly at him, and he could still see the concern on her face.

'I'm fine,' Harry emphasised. 'Really. I'm not sure what happened, but nothing bad happened did it?'

'Nope,' Ron said.

'Malfoy's in the hospital wing Ron,' Hermione scolded. Harry began to stroke the back of her hand with his thumb. She took a deep breath and sighed.

'So,' Ron said thoughtfully. 'Is that your way of saying I'm right?'

Harry snorted and Hermione reluctantly let out a soft giggle. She shook her head and as Harry gently squeezed her hand, she squeezed it back and gave him an affectionate smile. She leant in, much to both Harry and Ron's surprise, a pressed a kiss to his lips. He returned it gladly and they only broke apart when Ron let out a pointed, and embarrassed, cough.

'I thought I asked you to not go snogging around in public?' Ron asked Harry, who looked around. They were alone in the common room.

'We're alone,' Harry replied.

'I'm not part of the public?' Ron asked.

Hermione giggled and leant forward and rested her head on Harry's chest. He reached up and stroked her hair.

'Right,' Ron said gruffly. 'I'm going to bed before you two get too lovey-dovey and make me feel ill.'

Hermione laughed and Ron grinned at Harry, before walking away from them and up the staircase to the boy's dormitories. Harry stood up and Hermione looked confusedly up at him.

'You're going to bed too?'

'No,' Harry assured her.

He sat down on the couch in front of the fire, and held out an arm. Hermione grinned and moved to sit next to him. She curled up on the couch next to him and Harry held her, staring into the fire. The light danced in his eyes as he watched the flames. He could feel Hermione's weight pressed against him and he smiled to himself. This felt good. Harry knew that if he let himself, he would lose himself in the moment and forget everything. Thoughts and obsessions of Voldemort and his mission would have vanished as quickly as a wizard apparating if he chose to lose himself in the moment.

Harry couldn't help but feel that this was what he was supposed to have experienced in his life. He knew that the darkness and pain of life couldn't be kept away or at bay forever, but moments like this would help keep him sane when it did come.

Hermione leaned up and kissed him on the lips. He returned the kiss and they lost themselves to the passion. She lifted her leg over him and straddled Harry. His hands moved to her face as hers cupped his jaw. Their lips attacked each other, intensity and eagerness filling their bodies and minds like a drug.

It may have been a moment, or an hour, Harry didn't know or care, but they eventually broke apart. Hermione rested her forehead on his and smiled at him.

'You really don't know how you did it, do you?' Harry asked.

'Hmm?' Hermione replied.

'You don't know how you stopped me earlier.'

'No,' she whispered and she leant in for another kiss.

The next morning, Harry awoke to find himself strangely stiff. His neck hurt from the odd angle he had slept at, and he was still in the common room. His clothes looked dishevelled, and Hermione was curled up against him. Luckily for them, it was early. Harry gently rocked Hermione awake.

'Hermione,' he said softly. 'Hermione, it's time to wake up.'

'Huh,' she said sleepily and jerked awake. 'What do you mean?'

'We fell asleep down here,' Harry whispered into her hair. She sighed into his shoulder.

'Has anyone seen us?'

'I don't think so,' Harry replied as he glanced out of a window. 'It looks pretty early. Come on, let's get to bed. You might be able to get another half an hour.'

She groaned but slowly pulled herself off the couch. Harry chuckled as she stumped sleepily up the staircase the girl's dormitory. He ascended the staircase to his own dormitory and quietly pushed open the door. Unluckily for him, Ron was awake.

'What the hell do you call this?' Ron hissed at him, as Harry shuffled over to his four poster and collapsed onto it without undressing.

'Sleeping,' Harry said.

'Have you been up all night?' Ron asked indignantly. 'On second thoughts, I don't want to know.'

'We fell asleep in front of the fire,' Harry said. 'We didn't do anything like that.'

'Good,' Ron said. 'I've got to sit on that couch.'

Harry chuckled and his throat felt raw. A few minutes later, Seamus, Dean and Neville all awoke at the sound of a clock chiming seven times. Harry ignored the confused, sleepy questions and changed before heading down to the common room with Ron. Hermione joined them, looking just as tired as Harry. Ron shook his head and they clambered through the portrait hole.

Potions was their first lesson of the day and Malfoy's absence was noticeable, but Harry didn't care. Slughorn didn't mention it either, and set them to work on a poison antidote for the Draught of Living Death. Hermione and Harry were working so closely, that they seemed to stuck together. Slughorn walked a continuous circuit around the room, checking everyone's work and exploding with glee at Harry and Hermione's dual brilliance at Potions.

With ten minutes to go before the end of the class, Slughorn called for them to stop and clear away, and summoned their vials of antidotes to his desk, so that he could mark them. As the bell rung, Harry slipped his bag onto his shoulder and found Hermione sliding her hand into his. He squeezed it tenderly and hand in hand they walked to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Ron caught up with them outside Snape's classroom, glanced down at their entwined hands, but didn't make a comment. The door opened and the class shuffled inside. As Harry, Hermione and Ron sat down at a table at the back of the class, Snape shot a particularly venomous look at them, before his wrathful gaze rested on Harry for a brief moment. Harry glared back.

'Quiet,' Snape snapped, but there was no need. The class was silent. 'Today we shall begin to learn the theory behind non-verbal defensive magic. Given the woeful attempts by the class to cast non-verbal magic, I expect all of you to pay attention. Open your books to chapter one and begin reading. In silence!'

For fifteen whole minutes, there was silence. None of the class made a sound, apart from the occasional scraping of paper on paper and a readjustment of a chair's position. Snape prowled between the desks, watching every student like a hawk. As Snape passed behind Harry, Hermione sniffed loudly. Snape swivelled around to stare at her. She didn't look up at him, but continued to read. Evidently deciding to assume that she had sniffed innocently, if a little loudly, Snape began to stalk through the network of desks. Hermione however, slipped her hand into Harry's.

Harry wasn't really paying attention to the book. He was waiting for Snape to make a move. He could tell that Snape wanted to punish him for the previous lesson, but Harry was determined not to let Snape see him off guard. He wouldn't give that greasy slime ball the opportunity to curse him.

Snape however, seemed intent on making all the Gryffindors feel uneasy. Hermione's hand was still in Harry's as Snape passed their table again. His hawkish gaze saw it immediately.

'Tell me,' Snape said silkily, loud enough for the entire class to hear. 'Do you have a problem Miss Granger?'

Confused, Hermione looked up at him.

'No Professor,' she said uncertainly.

'Then why,' he said, his voice almost dancing with vindictive pleasure. 'Do you need to hold onto Potter's hand? Is he steadying you, to ensure that you don't fall off your chair?'

The Slytherins sniggered audibly. Hermione made to remove her hand from Harry's but he clung onto her and shifted his gaze to Snape and his over large nose.

'She's not breaking school rules by holding my hand,' Harry said coldly. 'Going to give her a detention anyway?'

'Harry,' she hissed, but he ignored her. Snape's face split into an evil smile.

'Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter. I will not be spoken to like that by a student. Least of all you.'

Snape walked away, his robes billowing slightly as he walked.

'You shouldn't have taken the bait,' Hermione whispered in Harry's ear.

'I know,' he muttered. 'I just want to curse his face off sometimes.'

The rest of the class passed by in a quiet cacophony on quills scratching on parchment as the class took notes. Harry and Hermione's hands became untangled as they started to take notes, only because Hermione needed her right hand to write.

The rest of their day passed quickly. Ron had become increasingly silent as the day had progressed, but Harry and Hermione didn't have long to brood on the reason. He confronted them in the common room after dinner.

'Look,' he said heavily. 'It's not that I hate you two being together, because I don't. In fact, I think it's great actually. I mean, I might have been surprised to begin with, but hey, who am I to stop you? It's just you two are getting really...'

He paused, not really knowing how to say what was in his head.

'Affectionate,' a cold voice said from behind them, and they turned around to see Ginny looking coldly at them. Hermione's smile faded a little.

'Such a good friend you are Hermione,' Ginny said sneeringly. Harry frowned.

'What are you talking about Ginny?' Harry asked, but she ignored him.

'Oh, start to think about other guys and relax a bit around Harry, and I'm sure he'll start to like you,' Ginny recited in a high pitched voice. It was evidently supposed to be a poor imitation of Hermione. Ron stepped forward.

'That's not on Ginny,' he muttered to her, but like Harry, she ignored Ron too.

'Thanks for being my friend Hermione,' Ginny snapped.

'Ginny,' Hermione said weakly. 'It's not like that. It really isn't.'

'You could have at least told me that you liked him,' she snapped. 'I wouldn't have wasted my time thinking you were my friend then.'

'Hey,' Ron snarled. 'Apologise Ginny.'

'How are you fine with this?' Ginny shouted at him. 'You've liked Hermione for ages and now she's with your best friend!'

Hermione glanced at Ron who had gone brick red.

'I did...' Ron started to say to her, before rounding on Ginny. 'Hey, I'm Harry's best friend. Hermione's my friend too! I'm not going to stop my friends being together just because of something I felt ages go.'

'Something you felt ages ago?' Ginny snorted derisively. 'Up until this summer you mean? Had I known, I would have seen just how pathetic you were. I mean, falling for your friend who likes your best mate.'

Ron and Ginny simultaneously pulled out their wands, but Harry reacted quicker than both of them. A shield charm erupted between them. Both Ron and Ginny had their wand pointing into their other's face. There was a loud bang as Ginny fired a curse at Ron, but the shield charm held. Ron snarled loudly and began to utter a curse when Harry stepped forward and pulled Ron back.

'Don't,' Harry warned. 'You'll regret it if you do.'

Harry was speaking from experience. He had seen Ginny and Ron fight before, in his own time. It wasn't pretty. Both of them had said things that no one should have ever heard. Accusations over who was to blame for their parent's deaths. He knew how much it had hurt Ginny to lose Ron. He didn't want that to happen again.

Ginny stalked away towards the girl's staircase, but her parting shot stung all three of them.

'Have fun with the whore,' she spat.

Ron made to lunge at Ginny again, and Hermione glanced at Harry. He looked irate at Ginny's words, but was concentrating on stopping Ron from going after her. After a few minutes of intense struggling, Harry let go of Ron. Hermione stepped forward.

'I'm sorry Hermione,' Ron muttered. 'Ginny shouldn't have said those things.'

'She's upset Ron,' Hermione reminded him.

'Not a good enough reason,' Ron told her gruffly and she pulled him into a brief hug.

'I didn't know you liked me,' Hermione said as they broke apart.

'Well,' Ron muttered sheepishly, turning brick red again and rubbing the back of his neck. 'I did.'

'You did?'

'I'm not stupid,' Ron said. 'I saw you and Harry holding hands at the Burrow and I kind of guessed that something might have happened in the paddock. I told Harry that me and you wouldn't have worked out. We fight too much, and I'm not stupid enough to risk a friendship. Despite what Ginny said, I'm really happy for you two. Besides, it's not all doom and gloom...'

He had an awkward expression on his face.

'Meaning,' Harry grinned.

'Well,' Ron said softly. 'It's not like there aren't other girls at Hogwarts are there?'

Hermione grinned and Harry chuckled. He suspected that there was more than Ron was letting on and made a mental note to ask him later, when Hermione wasn't around. The rest of the night was wiled away by writing essays and researching in Harry's books. Hermione went up to bed just past eleven and kissed Harry before she left. Harry and Ron were the last ones in the common room. Harry was reading and Ron was finishing a Transfiguration essay for McGonagall.

'So,' Harry said innocently as he turned a page. 'Going to tell me who she is?'

'What?' Ron looked, and sounded, alarmed. 'What do you mean?'

'What's her name?' Harry asked, grinning at him.

'It's nothing,' Ron said quickly. 'I mean I haven't even thought about asking her to Hogsmede yet.'

'Of course you have,' Harry said. 'Well? Who?'

'Don't laugh,' Ron pleaded and Harry shook his head. 'Okay. It's Luna.'

Harry didn't laugh. He did, however, smile.

'You're laughing at me,' Ron groaned. 'Damn it.'

'I'm not laughing,' Harry told him earnestly. 'I think it's great.'

Ron blinked at him.

'Really?'

'Sure,' Harry said. 'I mean, if you like her.'

'Well,' Ron said slowly. 'I think I'm starting too. I mean she's a good laugh...'

'You won't last long if you laugh at everything she says. She's not as ditzy as everyone thinks,' Harry said sternly and Ron nodded, looking a little downcast at Harry's words. 'Tell you what. Ask her to Hogsmede. Not as friends. Me and Hermione will be able to go without you for an afternoon. Actually listen to Luna, and ask her questions. Even if you think it's a bit crazy, ask her. Also, read up on some stuff. I would say ask Ginny about what she subjects she likes, but that might be a bit difficult. How about you just ask her questions and listen. Take in what she says. If it gets too much, steer her away from the crazy stuff and onto more normal things like classes.'

Ron nodded.

'Since when did you become so good at relationships?' Ron asked and Harry shuffled uncomfortably.

'Dunno,' Harry lied. 'Just don't laugh at Luna. If she tells you a joke, it's okay to laugh. But Luna's more perceptive than most people think. She'll see through any lies too.'

Ron nodded again and turned back to his essay. Harry closed his book and stood up.

'I'm going to bed,' he yawned. 'I'll see you in the morning?'

'Uh-huh,' Ron muttered as he began to write his conclusion.

Harry walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitories and entered the sixth-year's. He changed into pyjama bottoms and climbed into bed. Within minutes, he was asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

 **Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm working a lot at the moment, so I've got to fit in writing with work.**

Harry awoke next morning early. He washed and dressed and headed down to the common room. He was surprised to see Hermione waiting for him. She greeted him with a kiss and a question.

'Isn't Ron coming down with you?'

'I thought he was already down here,' Harry said. 'Maybe he's down at breakfast. It wouldn't surprise me if he was.'

Hermione giggled and took Harry's proffered arm with a smile. They made their way through the castle and into the Great Hall. Ron was nowhere to be found. He wasn't at the Gryffindor table and Harry even scanned the Ravenclaw table for signs that he might be talking to Luna. He wasn't there. Confused, Harry and Hermione ate a quick breakfast, assuring themselves that Ron wouldn't miss Charms.

But he did. By the time the bell had rung for break, both Harry and Hermione were extremely worried. They raced back up to Gryffindor tower and pelted into the boy's dormitory. Harry opened his trunk, grabbed the Marauder's Map and tapped it with his wand.

'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,' he said.

At once, from the point where his wand tip had struck the parchment, black lines erupted over the page. Crisscrossing and overlapping, the lines quickly mapped out Hogwarts and the grounds. Multiple dots were spread over the parchment, but most were in the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione scanned the map for the dot labeled with Ron's name, and it was Hermione who found it first.

'There,' she whispered. 'He's in the hospital wing.'

They rushed from the dormitory and raced through the castle to the hospital wing. They burst in to see Ron sat up in a bed, an odd look on his face.

'What happened?' Harry asked.

'Ginny,' Ron growled. 'Came back down after you'd gone up to bed and hit me from behind with the Bat-Bogey Curse. Madam Pomfrey managed to get rid of it. I'll be okay to leave in a minute.'

At that moment Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office and spotted Harry straight away.

'Surely there is nothing wrong with you already Potter?'

'No,' Harry assured her. 'Just came to see Ron.'

'Well,' she said as she bent down to examine Ron closely. 'You're free to go Mr Weasley. Next time, try not to cast a Bat-Bogey Curse on yourself.'

'Sorry,' Ron said sheepishly, and he quickly slipped off the bed and headed out of the Hospital Wing. Harry and Hermione hurried after him.

'You lied,' Hermione hissed as the doors closed behind her.

'Well,' Ron replied. 'I wasn't going to tell her my sister attacked me from behind. I told her that I was twiddling my wand and thinking of hexes when my wand just... Went off. Accident.'

'She bought that?' Harry asked incredulously.

'Not really, but I didn't tell her anything else, so...' She managed to removed the curse, but wanted to keep me for observation overnight I suppose. Payback for waking her up at midnight. What did I miss?'

'Not much. You'll need to read a chapter for Charms and make notes, but you can copy mine,' Harry told him.

They headed down to Herbology and found Neville chatting to Hannah Abbott. They both turned to face Harry, Ron and Hermione as they approached.

'Hey guys,' Neville greeted them warmly, and Hannah waved at them. 'We were just talking about the DA. Is it still carrying on this year?'

'Yeah,' Harry replied. 'But, I'm going to make it a lot tougher. We're going to need it.'

'Cool,' Neville said. 'What are we going to be doing?'

'Lots of duelling practice,' Ron told him. 'Harry's got some really cool new spells and stuff.'

'When's the first meeting?' Hannah asked.

'Not sure yet,' Harry admitted. 'I've got a thing tonight, Quidditch tryouts in the morning and a detention tomorrow night.'

'Just let us know in the usual way,' Neville beamed at Hermione.

'Will do,' she whispered and Neville and Hannah returned to their conversation.

'You reckon a lot of people will want to carry on with the DA?' Ron asked.

'Hopefully,' Harry said. 'It's not like people aren't going to need duelling skills with Voldemort and the Death Eaters out there, are they?'

'No,' Hermione mused. 'I did come across something interesting though Harry. I asked for a permission slip to use the restricted section from McGonagall and she gave me one.'

'And,' Ron pressed.

'Well,' Hermione said slowly. 'This is a long shot, Harry. Like a really long shot...'

'What is it?' Harry asked eagerly.

'Do you know anything about elemental magic?' Hermione asked. Their blank faces told her everything she needed to know and she smiled. 'Well, it's an extremely advanced and rare branch of magic. I don't think that there is anyone alive who can perform it. I don't think even Dumbledore...'

'If no one can perform it, why are you mentioning it?' Ron asked.

'As I was saying,' Hermione said, throwing him a dirty look. 'I don't think even Dumbledore can perform it. But, I'm not saying that we try to figure out how to use it, merely use the premise behind it.'

'Which is what?' Harry asked.

'That magic comes from the environment. That different spells are connected to different elements. So Incendio would be connected to the Fire element for instance. I was thinking, what if we used all the elements to fuel any spell that we cast?'

'How on earth do you propose to do that?'

'I have come across some spells that might help us to connect to the elements on a fundamental level, but that's all we'd need. Think about it. The power of nature behind our spells. Voldemort and the Death Eaters would be no match for us. We could win this war.'

'Are you saying that we teach the DA fundamental elemental magic?' Harry asked dubiously.

'No,' Hermione said impatiently. 'Just us. We learn it. I mean, even if the fundamental stuff isn't that effective, it would make our spells so much more powerful.'

'Hermione,' Harry said as he took her hand. 'It sounds like a fantasy. I think we should be carrying on with our research. I've learnt so much already.'

'I just thought that it might help,' Hermione muttered and Harry squeezed her hands reassuringly.

'I know,' he said softly. 'I just don't want to waste time on a long shot that probably won't work.'

'Harry, when you cursed Malfoy, the amount of power coming out of you was intense. Ron felt it and he was thirty yards away,' Hermione insisted. 'There's a lot of power in you already and I think that's the key to unlocking this thing. Can we at least look into it some more?'

Harry hesitated and Hermione slipped her arms around him and held him tight.

'Please,' she whispered. Ron grinned at Harry, who relented in a heartbeat.

'Fine,' he said. 'But, if I think it's heading down a dead end, I want to move back onto our normal research. I've found a particularly nasty Dark curse that I want to try and then create a counter-curse for.'

Hermione grinned up at him. As the Herbology greenhouse door opened, Hermione let go of Harry and the class filed inside. Professor Sprout began by reminding them that their N.E.W.T. Herbology course would be far more demanding than their O.W.L. Ron groaned slightly at the words. Hermione then peppered Sprout with answers to each of her questions, and the class were soon set to work on potting a new type of plant.

They all had to wear Dragon-hide gloves as the leaves were extremely poisonous. Sprout had stressed to them that the antidote to the plant venom was extremely rare and it was unlikely that Madam Pomfrey had any. So, with the class being extra careful, there was a tense silence in the greenhouse as they worked.

An hour later, Harry was pulling off his gloves and stuffing them into the front of his bag. Hermione was talking to Sprout and Ron leant over to him.

'What do you think about Hermione's plan?' Ron muttered.

'Err,' Harry replied, unsure if he could be entirely truthful.

'Utterly bonkers?' Ron asked, and Harry reluctantly nodded. Ron looked grimly at him. 'How do we tell her that it's probably not going to work? I mean she said it herself.'

'Don't know,' Harry whispered. 'I think we should go along with it, and when it doesn't work, return to our research. Have you made any headway with some more strategies?'

'Yeah,' Ron replied. 'I've got a cool plan for the DA if we get into a skirmish with Death Eaters, like what happened at the Ministry. Involves groups of three. Sort of like cat and mouse, but we're a giant cat following a very slow mouse.'

Harry chuckled.

'Can't wait to hear this,' he mused and Ron laughed.

'They won't know what hit them,' he said sincerely. 'Like cursing doxies in a glass jar.'

'Fish in a barrel,' Harry said and Ron frowned at him.

'Fish in a barrel?' Ron asked.

'Muggle expression,' Harry explained. 'Like shooting fish in a barrel.'

'Why would you want to shoot a fish? Or why would a fish be in a barrel?'

'I don't know,' Harry replied, slightly aggravated. 'It's a Muggle expression, I don't know where it came from.'

'Muggles are weird,' Ron mused as Hermione bounded up to them, a pleased expression on her face.

'I wonder what's for lunch?' Hermione wondered aloud as she and Harry walked arm in arm back up to the castle, Ron by their side.

The rest of the day passed quickly for Harry. He was too preoccupied about his forthcoming lesson with Dumbledore. After the debacle of the Occlumency lessons from Snape, which had been more like torture than lessons, Harry was secretly hoping that he'd manage to pick up the art fairly quickly.

However, at eight o'clock, when he entered Dumbledore's office, he found nothing had been moved aside for their practice. Merely, a candle sat on the desk in front of the headmaster. Harry sat down in front of Dumbledore's desk and waited.

'Given the, ah, misguided attempts last year,' Dumbledore said. 'Hopefully these lessons will be far more useful. Now, all I want you to do is to concentrate on the candle.'

Slightly confused, Harry did so. Dumbledore pointed his wand at the candle and a flame burst from the wick. Harry continued to stare at the flame, and Dumbledore didn't speak for a moment.

'Now, concentrate on just the flame. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists except for you and the flame. Concentrate.'

Harry did. He let his mind focus only on himself and the flame. He felt it go strangely blank and free. His shoulders, which he had only just realised felt heavy, seemed to relax and he breathed out a long breath. The flame stuttered a little, but continued to burn happily. Harry was so relaxed that he did not realise that Dumbledore had stood up and aimed his wand at him.

'Legilimens,' Dumbledore whispered.

Harry felt something change. The flame and himself weren't the only things in his mind. There was something else. It was as if it was just out of reach though. He could sense it, but couldn't feel or tell what it was. He tried to push it away, but it's presence remained firm. He didn't feel threatened, so Harry returned his gaze and focus to the flame.

The presence remained, but became increasingly more insistent. It seemed to be coming closer. Harry could start to feel and tell, what it was. It was another mind. His face contorted with a frown, but it was out of confusion rather than pain.

Harry closed his eyes and saw himself in a large room. A blurred figure stood some distance away but it was coming towards him. Not particularly fast, but not slow either, the outline of a person shifted towards him. Harry squinted, trying to make out what, or who, it was. Slowly the figure came into focus. It was Dumbledore.

'Remarkable,' Dumbledore said softly, and his words echoed slightly. 'Absolutely remarkable. I tried to enter your mind and ended up here. Do you know where we are Harry?'

'No,' Harry said truthfully. 'I was concentrating on the flame and then I felt something in the back of my mind, and I ended up here.'

'Interesting,' Dumbledore said. 'I didn't think that this would be the result of your first go, I must say. It is quite astonishing.'

'You didn't think that I would be able to do it?' Harry asked, a little downhearted.

'Oh Harry,' Dumbledore sighed. 'I definitely thought that you would be able to achieve success in Occlumency. Given your less than stellar history however, I thought that more work would have gone into the lessons. As it is, we might be able to skip a few steps.'

He smoothed the front of his robes before continuing.

'Now, the fact that we are both in this room would suggest that you're ready to learn how to repel attacks rather than just contain them. At the moment, we are still in my office and I am currently trying to penetrate your mental defences with Legilimency. The key to repelling attacks is concentration. With any luck, you may be able to push me out of your mind without the use of a spell.'

'How?' Harry asked. 'I'm not even sure how I managed to keep you here.'

'In the case of Lord Voldemort attacking your mind, it would be prudent to think of a happy memory. Much like the Patronus charm, Occlumency requires force of will. Let yourself fill up wth force of good. Happiness and love will drive out Lord Voldemort and protect your mind like a shield.'

'I don't have that many happy memories,' Harry admitted softly.

'What about memories from spending time with Miss Granger? Your Miss Granger I mean,' Dumbledore asked.

'We were either under attack or running for our lives most of the time,' Harry told him. 'Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. I remember one Christmas, we managed to set up a tent near to Hogwarts. It was nice to see the castle again, even if it had fallen into Voldemort's hands.'

He smiled, but after a moment the smile faded.

'About three in the morning, a patrol detected our defensive charms and we were ambushed. Hermione nearly lost a leg and I got a scar running from my collar bone to my eye socket. Dolohov, McManus and Urquhart died in the attack. I killed Dolohov and Urquhart. McManus was stunned by Hermione and hit by a stray killing curse.

Each of my kills haunts me in my dreams. Ron is normally there too. He just wasn't the same after... None of us were. The war took its toll on everyone. I'm not the same as I was when I left Hogwarts to find and destroy the Horcruxes. I wasn't prepared for what I had to do. If I was, then maybe Hermione would have survived and I would've killed Voldemort.'

Dumbledore stared down at him, his gaze unwavering and unblinking. Harry looked up at him, but he could feel something else. Another presence. Harry continued to stare up at Dumbledore, but concentrated on the, as yet, unknown presence. Harry turned away from Dumbledore and saw a shadowy figure moving towards him. He pulled out his wand and turned back to his headmaster.

'Stupefy,' Harry said.

A bolt of red light shot towards Dumbledore, who parried it with ease. Dumbledore's face broke into a wide grin. It wasn't a normal smile. It was wider than humanly possible, and there was a malice behind it that Harry didn't like. The grin became wider, almost splitting Dumbledore's face in half.

In an instant, Dumbledore had vanished. In his place, a Dementor towered over Harry.

'Expecto Patronum,' Harry said.

At once, the stag burst from his wand. Antlers made from a dazzling white light caught the Dementor flush in the chest and it soared away before disappearing. Harry whirled around. The shadowy figure had caught up with him now, and it wasn't shadowy.

It was Hermione, but not as Harry remembered her. It was his Hermione, but there was something different. She had a dead look on her face. Her mouth was open and her eyes stared blankly into his own. In a flash, her cold hands had reached for his throat. She was trying to strangle him.

'Hermione,' Harry gasped. 'Hermione, no.'

She didn't seem to hear him. Harry's face was turning purple, his glasses were askew. Hermione had unnatural strength. Harry raised his wand and pointed it into her face.

'Relashio,' Harry croaked.

She was flung from him, and flew through the air before landing forty feet away. She snarled up at him and was on her feet in a flash. But something was happening. He could see Hermione, but he could now see Dumbledore standing before him, his wand raised. Harry raised his wand and concentrated, not on Hermione but, on Dumbledore.

'Protego,' Harry said.

He blinked and found himself back in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was smiling at him.

'Well done,' he beamed. 'A very good first attempt Harry. You kept me confined and manage to repel me when I tried to delve further. An excellent attempt.'

'I thought that I would be able to block my mind completely or not have to use my wand,' Harry said, confused.

'Oh, you will,' Dumbledore said, smiling broadly at Harry. 'Remember that this was your first try. It was an excellent achievement. Most fail at their first attempt. Shall we go again?'

Harry nodded.

For the next hour and a half Dumbledore tried to penetrate Harry's mind. Once or twice, Dumbledore managed to sneak past Harry's defences and delve into his mind. Unlike Snape's attempts to penetrate his mind, Dumbledore only briefly saw memories of Harry's childhood and later life.

Harry left the office after their lesson and made his way back to Gryffindor tower. As he climbed through the portrait hole, he saw Hermione waiting for him.

'Ron was tired, so he went to bed,' she told him. 'He didn't get a lot of sleep last night obviously.'

Harry nodded and sat down next to her. Ginny eyed them suspiciously, and looked away when she saw Harry looking at her. He got up off the couch and strode over to Ron's sister.

'Ginny,' he said shortly. 'We need to talk.'

She turned to face him, a cold look on her face.

'What do you want?'

'I want you to apologise to Hermione and Ron,' Harry said levelly. 'Look, I'm flattered that you're interested in me Ginny, but I really like Hermione. I can't help that. I can't help that she likes me. Hermione never betrayed you. She genuinely wanted to help you get me to notice, but I never saw you like that Ginny. You're Ron's sister... My sister. It wouldn't feel right.'

She looked up at him, considering Harry. He stared into her eyes, silently pleading her to believe him and accept him and Hermione being together. Harry wanted Ginny to be okay. He didn't want there to be any division between Ron and Ginny. It had happened before, and it hadn't ended well.

'Fine,' she said offishly. 'I'll talk to her.'

She strode over to Hermione and sat down next to her.

'When did you start to like Harry?' Ginny asked Hermione, without preamble.

'This summer,' Hermione said meekly. 'He changed after what happened at the Ministry.'

'So you're taking advantage of the fact that he's grieving for Sirius?' Ginny asked hotly.

'No, no,' Hermione pleaded softly. 'I don't mean like that. He's different to what he was like before. I'm not talking about Sirius' death. He's more determined than ever to beat Voldemort. He's just... Different. I can't explain it.'

'He likes you a lot doesn't he?' Ginny asked, and Hermione nodded.

'I think so,' she whispered.

'You like him a lot too as well?'

'Yeah.'

Ginny sighed and stood up.

'I'm sorry for what I called you. I was upset,' she said.

'Don't worry about it,' Hermione said quickly. 'I understand.'

'Well,' Ginny said, a little awkward now. 'I'll see you at the first DA lesson?'

Hermione nodded and Ginny walked away. Harry passed her.

'Thank you,' he whispered and Ginny nodded silently. Harry strode over to Hermione, sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug, before kissing the top of her head.

'How was your lesson with Dumbledore?'

'Good,' Harry said. 'He's given me some tips. He told me to concentrate on a happy memory and allow myself to think about just that. It will focus my mind and help keep Voldemort at bay.'

'Got any ideas on what you're going to think about?' Hermione asked.

'I'll think of something,' Harry replied.

Harry and Hermione went up to their dormitories not long after and Harry lay in bed trying to think of a happy memory. His mind flitted back to the first time he had kissed Hermione.

Harry lay in his bed and closed his eyes, replaying his kiss with Hermione over and over in his head. He didn't know how long until he fell asleep, but he awoke fully rested and wide awake. He hadn't managed to do that in a long time. He rolled out of bed to see Ron looking a little green.

'Tryouts today,' Ron croaked and Harry nodded.

'Yeah,' he said. 'If we don't get a move on, we'll be doing it on an empty stomach.'

Ron nodded and they both quickly dressed and grabbed their brooms, before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione was waiting for them. As Harry approached she scooted up to make room for him. He and Ron quickly downed their breakfast before all three of them headed to the Quidditch pitch. Katie was already waiting for them. Ginny was there too.

'Hello Harry, Ron,' she said briskly. 'We'll start with a few flying drills first. Just a few laps, then we'll split into positional groups. Seekers first, then beaters, and finally chasers and keepers at the same time.'

Harry and Ron nodded and waited for the rest to arrive. It was a fairly large group too. Katie began the trial with a quick speech and got the group into smaller groups of five. Harry and Ron were in the same group. At the blast of a whistle they took off and did a few laps of the pitch. Katie introduced a couple of bludgers to the mix and Harry and Ron easily dodged them. Once the group had been thinned a little, and the poorer fliers had left the pitch and sat in the stands or left to go back to the castle.

Harry and four others were in the group for Seekers. Katie got them in the air and released the snitch. After a minute, Katie blew her whistle and Harry hared into action. The stadium turned into a blur as he raced around the pitch. After a minute, he saw it. He dived. It was fluttering twenty feet in the air in front of Hermione. Harry zoomed towards the snitch. He reached out a hand and his fingers closed around the golden ball. He put the brakes on his Firebolt and somersaulted in the air. He easily managed to stay on his broom. Harry raised his fist in the air and quite a few people, who had come down to watch the tryouts after a long breakfast, cheered. He heard Hermione clap and cheer enthusiastically behind him. He glanced back and grinned at her.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and two boys, a fourth year called Jimmy Peakes and a third year called Ritchie Coote, were sat in the stands watching the chasers and keepers. Harry was sat next to Hermione, and they enthusiastically cheered on Ron who was hovering in front of the goals to their left. Ginny, a small fourth year, and Dean Thomas were passing the quaffle between them as they advanced towards Ron. Ginny was very good. The small fourth year was a pretty good passer, and her aim was decent too.

Ron was unspectacular but he managed to save eighty percent of the shots at his goals. Ginny scored the lion's share of the goals for her group.

Katie called Harry, Peakes and Coote down from the stands and once all of the chasers and keepers had landed around them, Katie chose Ron, Ginny and the small fourth year, who was called Demelza Robins, to join the team. There was a little bit of grumbling, but Katie ignored them. She set up practices for three times a week. Harry and Ron bid the team farewell and joined Hermione outside the Quidditch arena.

Deciding to head down to Hagrid's hut and see him, they walked through the grounds. Hagrid beamed widely at them when he opened the door at their knocks.

'Harry,' he beamed, and pulled Harry into a rib-cracking hug.

'Hi Hagrid,' Harry wheezed. 'How have you been?'

'Oh, not bad,' Hagrid sighed, standing aside to let them in. 'I do have one question for ya though.'

'What?' Harry, Ron and Hermione asked.

'Why did you drop Care of Magical Creatures?'

They all looked at each other, each with a tentative expression on their face.

'We..' Ron started.

'Couldn't fit it into our timetables,' Hermione said quickly.

'Yeah,' Harry said. 'We couldn't fit it in Hagrid.'

Hagrid considered them for a moment before closing the door and motioning for them to sit down.

'Thought it was summat like tha',' he said heavily. 'I knew you'd 'ave trouble fittin' me in. Can't say I'm not disappointed tho'.'

'We really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures,' Hermione stressed. 'We really couldn't fit it in.'

'S'okay,' Hagrid said gruffly, waving a dustbin lid-sized hand at her. 'It's fine. How did the tryouts go?'

Harry, Hermione and Ron spent the day whiling away the hours talking to Hagrid about their classes, possible Voldemort plans and Gryffindor's Quidditch Cup chances. At eight in the evening, Hermione and Ron walked back up to the castle, while Harry stayed with Hagrid to do his detention.

It wasn't difficult. Harry accompanied Hagrid on a walk around the grounds. Hagrid had been told why Harry was in detention and didn't blame him in the slightest.

'I'd've punched that piece of filth if were ya' Harry,' Hagrid had said, causing them to beam at him.

Hagrid kept Harry in his "detention" for a couple of hours. Apart from a quick stroll through the grounds, Harry helped Hagrid with tending to his pumpkin patch and collecting firewood. After finally getting back to his dormitory, Harry climbed into bed at ten thirty and promptly fell asleep. He dreamt of Hermione all night.

Harry awoke next morning and dressed before grabbing his wand and heading down to the common room. It was still early and no one saw him leave Gryffindor Tower and head along the seventh floor corridor to the Room of Requirement. He paced back and forth three times thinking the same thing. At once a door appeared and Harry opened it and slipped inside. As soon as the door clicked closed, it vanished.

Harry was in a large room. Several dummies stood before him. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and tapped each of the dummies in turn. They seemed to breathe into life and turn to face him. He stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the now living dummies.

It happened in the blink of an eye, but Harry was ready. His wand slashed through the air, whipping sounds becoming lost in the clash and bangs of spell on spell. The dummies shot out a variety of curses through the targets on their chests. Harry rolled out of the way of a particularly vicious hex and shot a blasting hex at the offending dummy. It was blasted backwards, a slightly smoking hole in it's chest.

Harry continued to duel, blocking, parrying and countering each of the spells thrown at him. Eventually, he was alone in the room. He waved his wand and the dummies sprang up, fully repaired. Harry continued to duel. Hours passed but Harry didn't tire. He was too used to duelling for his life to become tired easily. Only stopping at the pangs of hunger, Harry conjured himself a towel and wiped himself down, before heading out of the Room of Requirement and down, through the castle, to the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione weren't there, so Harry ate a hasty lunch and headed up to the library.

Harry chuckled to himself as he entered. He knew Hermione so well. She and Ron were sat at a table, each with a book open next to a piece of parchment, and they were scribbling furiously.

'Well, don't you two look busy,' Harry joked and they looked up at him.

'What happened to you?' Ron asked.

'What do you mean?' Harry asked quickly, checking to see if he was bleeding.

'You weren't at breakfast and we couldn't find you anywhere.'

'Room of Requirement,' Harry muttered quietly and realisation dawned on their faces.

'Well,' Hermione said. 'I've been reading up on elemental magic Harry...'

'I finished my Transfiguration essay, without help,' Ron muttered pointedly and Harry laughed.

'Anyway,' Hermione continued, throwing Ron a dark look. 'Elemental magic seems to be really complex, but it seems as if the hardest part is actually tapping into it the first time. Once you've done it then it's a lot easier.'

'So how do we do it?' Harry asked.

'The book's not exactly clear,' Hermione said resentfully. 'It says that the body and mind must be connected with nature.'

'How are we supposed to do that?' Ron asked under his breath. Madam Pince was stalking amongst the bookshelves behind them. 'Must be connected with nature? What does that mean?'

'I'm not sure,' Hermione mused softly. 'Maybe we should take this outside?'

Ron and Harry agreed and they all headed out of the library and made their way into the grounds. Harry led the way over to their normal spot, underneath a beech tree. Harry and Hermione sat under it and Ron sat in front of them.

'Maybe we should try meditating?' Hermione suggested.

'Meditating?' Ron questioned. 'You sure?'

'Not really,' Hermione said slowly. 'Like I said, the book's not exactly full of clear instructions.'

'Or any,' Ron interjected, but Harry gave him a stern look.

All three of them closed their eyes. Harry was fighting the urge to fall asleep. He concentrated on his surroundings, trying to detect everything he could sense without his eyes. He felt something, but there was a loud grunting snore, and his eyes bolted open. Ron was laying down, fast asleep.

'Typical,' Hermione hissed waspishly. 'Bloody typical.'

Harry grinned and closed his eyes again. He tried to see if he could feel that same something, but it was gone. He tried to remember exactly what it was, but it was too indefinable. The only thing that came to mind was incredible vastness.

Harry felt a small twitch, and he looked down and saw that Hermione too, had fallen asleep. He chuckled and closed his eyes again. He concentrated on what his others senses were telling him. He fell asleep and into a very weird dream.

He was standing in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds. Nothing was moving. It was light, but there was no breeze. Everything was eerily quiet. Harry stared around for a moment before everything seemed to shiver and quake. He stumbled over the trembling ground towards the beech tree he had just been under. A leaf fell from one of the branches and Harry reached out a hand and caught it.

It dessicated at his touch, becoming golden dust before it was absorbed by the flesh of his palm. Harry's hand immediately began to feel hot and the sensation seemed to radiate up his arm. It wasn't painful, just a pleasant warmth. It seeped over his shoulder and into his chest where it filled his heart. Suddenly his head was filled of thoughts of Hermione.

He fell to his knees with a small thud. The Forbidden Forest seemed to collapse as if the ground had been taken out from underneath it. The trees exploded into fine dust like the leaf had done in Harry's hand. The dust collected in the air and zoomed at Harry, hitting him in the chest.

The warmth was becoming hotter. He could feel his entire body fill up with the heat. His head rocked backwards and he saw the light blue sky through a golden veneer. His mouth fell open and his arms were splayed. The water from the lake rose into the air before becoming the same golden dust. It peppered Harry's body as if it were a light breeze.

He breathed in sharply. It was weird. He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't panicking. Something was telling him that he wasn't in any danger...

He awoke with a start, Hermione's head on his chest. Ron was still asleep before him, and the sun continued to shine down on them. Confused, he quickly decided not to tell Hermione about his dream just yet. It was odd. He had felt everything as if it was actually happening to him.

Harry suddenly became acutely aware of his surroundings. He could hear birds chirruping as if they were stood on his shoulder. Harry gently nudged Hermione awake.

'Hermione,' Harry whispered. 'Wake up. You fell asleep.'

'Wha-,' she said sleepily. 'Oh no. I wasn't supposed to do that. How long was I asleep for?'

'Not sure,' Harry muttered sheepishly. 'I fell asleep too.'

'Well, well, well,' a cold voice drawled sarcastically. 'Isn't this delightful?'

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle appeared from behind the beech tree. Harry kicked Ron awake.

'Wha-,' he grunted, blinking heavily. He spotted Malfoy. 'What do you want?'

'Sorry to break up nap time,' Malfoy quipped. 'I had hoped to get a moment alone with Granger. I could do with a laugh watching her trying to prove that she's a real witch.'

Harry leapt to his feet so fast that Hermione was jolted to the floor. His wand was in Malfoy's face. Crabbe and Goyle advanced towards him, but Harry was ready.

'Stupefy! Relashio! Petrificus Totalus!' Harry said, his wand pointing from Malfoy to Crabbe, before finally resting on Goyle.

Malfoy was blasted backwards thirty feet by Harry's Stunning spell. Crabbe was hoisted onto the beech tree's topmost branches, and Goyle froze quicker than a blink of eye. Hermione scrambled to her feet, as did Ron, their wands out.

'Potter!'

It was Snape. He billowed over to them, his robes rippling in the air.

'Fifty points from Gryffindor!' Snape spat. He walked over to Malfoy. 'Enervate!'

Nothing happened. Snape pointed his wand at Malfoy again.

'Enervate,' he said sharply.

Slowly, Malfoy came around. Snape turned his attention to Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe was easily levitated back to ground and it took five attempts for Snape to properly lift the Full Body-Bind curse off Goyle. Once he had ordered all three Slytherins up to the Hospital Wing to see Madam Pomfrey, Snape rounded on Harry.

'Explain yourself,' he hissed, his eyes boring into Harry's. Harry immediately thought of Hermione, and he could almost feel Snape trying to penetrate his mind.

'Malfoy threatened us. I acted accordingly,' Harry said stiffly.

'That maybe,' Snape said silkily. 'But, you are not the one to decide what punishment anyone deserves. Not that I believe you for a second. In addition to the points deduction, you will serve a detention. Tomorrow night, eight o'clock.'

Harry nodded and Snape stalked away, towards the castle.

'How did you do that?' Ron asked, awed.

'Don't know,' Harry replied. 'I just cast the curses.'

'Has anything happened?' Hermione asked curiously. It was as if she knew something was up.

'Well,' Harry said slowly. 'I did have a weird dream.'

'And,' Hermione pressed.

'It was really weird,' Harry continued. 'I was in the grounds, on my own, and then everything started turning into a golden dust and flying into me. I thought about you and then I woke up. Like I said, it was weird.'

'I think we should head back to the library,' Hermione said. 'We need to read more about elemental magic.'

Harry and Ron nodded and followed a rapidly striding Hermione back up to the castle.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I just had an idea that I had to get out of my head. The rights gladly belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.**

Two days later Harry found himself, yet again, sat in front of Dumbledore while concentrating on a candle. The flame stuttered and went out. Dumbledore frowned at the candle. At once, the wick burst back into flame, hotter and more intense than before. Harry closed his eyes.

'Legilimens,' he heard Dumbledore say.

Harry felt something push his mind. He concentrated on the candle and Hermione. He smiled. He couldn't feel another presence inside his mind, but knew there was something trying to get in. He opened his eyes and saw Dumbledore beaming at him.

The tip of Dumbledore's wand moved upwards and away from Harry's face. Immediately, Harry felt the presence disappear.

'Excellent Harry,' Dumbledore exulted happily. 'Really excellent. I do have one question however.'

'What's that?' Harry asked.

'What was the golden light?'

Harry stared at him. He thought Dumbledore had been unable to penetrate his mind.

'I thought you didn't get in?'

'I didn't,' Dumbledore said. 'But, there was a slight emanation of golden light from your eyes when you opened them. It disappeared after a fraction of a second, but I am intrigued as to what it was.'

'Not sure,' Harry admitted. 'It's probably just the sunlight on my glasses.'

'Harry,' Dumbledore said. 'It was not the sunlight reflecting off your glasses.'

Harry sighed. He didn't really want to tell Dumbledore, but he knew that he would find out in the end. Like he always did.

'Hermione has been exploring the possibility of using elemental magic.'

Harry looked up at Dumbledore and his expression was hard to read. It was seemingly impassive, but Harry could tell that he was shocked.

'Elemental magic?' Dumbledore breathed.

'Yes,' Harry said shortly. 'She's talked us through what she's already found out, and we tried to start the process the other day. I had a weird dream. Just a lot of golden stuff flying into me. Then Malfoy appeared...'

'I heard he had to go to the hospital wing,' Dumbledore said musingly. 'Professor Snape tried to have you suspended...'

Harry snorted.

'Figures,' he breathed. Dumbledore gave him a knowing look.

'He seemed to think that you had procured a strengthening solution and used it before stunning Mr Malfoy.'

'Nope,' Harry said simply. 'Just stunned him. Didn't take anything.'

'Do you remember our deal?'

'Yes,' Harry said shortly. 'He threatened Hermione. I wasn't going to let him harm her.'

'How was he going to harm her?'

'Make her try and prove that she's a real witch,' Harry recited bitterly. 'Like she's not more magical than...'

'Harry, I cannot continue to allow you to endanger my students. With this new development in your powers...'

'What do you mean?' Harry asked quickly. 'What new development?'

'You are starting to use elemental magic,' Dumbledore said. 'Your stunning spell was extremely powerful. You were lucky not to have stopped Mr Malfoy's heart.'

'If you say so,' Harry muttered and Dumbledore gave him a stern look.

'I do say so,' Dumbledore said heavily. 'You agreed to not continue to curse Mr Malfoy and I would, in return, teach you Occlumency.'

Harry looked up at the headmaster whose expression was unreadable. Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes and gaze locked onto Harry. For Harry, it had been quite a while since he'd been given the same examination of character from Dumbledore, and it still made him feel like an eleven year-old caught in wrong doing. After a moment, Dumbledore spoke.

'I will talk to Mr Malfoy,' he said slowly. 'His persistence in pestering Miss Granger is totally unacceptable. I will advise him not to talk to you, Miss Granger or Mister Weasley, lest he incur your wrath... Again.'

A faint smile washed over Dumbledore's lips for a millisecond and Harry had a hard time believing that he'd actually seen it.

'In return, I ask that you do not use magic against him. A broken nose will heal a lot faster than the effects of a particularly powerful stunning spell, especially if it is fuelled by elemental magic.'

'I'm not sure that Hermione's idea is even going to work...'

'Do I have your assurance that you will not curse Mr Malfoy?' Dumbledore asked loudly.

'Yes,' Harry said bitterly. 'I will not curse Malfoy.'

'Good,' Dumbledore said. 'Now, I believe that we have accomplished enough for one night. Off to bed.'

Harry nodded and left the office. He walked through the castle, reached the Fat Lady and gave her the password. He clambered through the portrait hole and the common room and the stairs to his dormitory. Ron was asleep. Oddly, he saw Hermione sitting on his bed. A look of confusion fixed it's self onto his face.

'What?' Hermione asked, a little hesitantly. 'I've been in here before.'

'It's not that,' Harry said quickly. 'You've never been up here so late before.'

'Oh,' Hermione said. 'Well, I couldn't sleep.'

She blushed a little. Harry grinned and pulled his robes off. He stood before her in just his underwear. She blushed again. He put his wand and glasses on the bedside table and got into bed. He motioned for her to join him. She crept into the bed next to him and he worked his arm under her head.

He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes. Hermione was asleep before he was.

The next morning however, they were rudely awoken by Ron.

'What the...' Ron yelped. Luckily, Dean, Seamus and Neville had already left the dormitory. 'Did you two...'

'Wha'?' Harry asked sleepily. He blinked heavily and Ron's blurry outline appeared.

'You and Hermione are in bed together!' Ron hissed.

Hermione's eyes fluttered open. After a split-second of realisation, she bolted out of Harry's bed.

'Oh,' she gasped, not looking remotely sleepy. Harry looked between Ron and Hermione.

'What's wrong?' Harry mumbled.

'You two didn't...' Ron began and Hermione shook her head vigorously.

'No,' she said. 'We just slept. Nothing else.'

'Good,' Ron grumbled. 'I don't need that image in my head thank you very much.'

'Oh,' Harry said, finally cottoning on. 'Yeah, we didn't do anything Ron.'

'Still,' Ron said sheepishly. 'It might be better if you and Hermione didn't sleep in the same bed. It might not be me who finds you next time. Then you'd be in trouble. I'm pretty sure that...'

His voice tailed off listlessly. Harry and Hermione nodded before Hermione rushed out of the dormitory to go to her own. Harry changed into fresh robes and headed down the stairs with Ron.

'What have we got today?' Harry asked, rubbing the back of his head.

'Transfiguration, Charms and Defence,' Ron replied. 'It took me hours to finish that essay for Flitwick last night. With you gone to Dumbledore's and Hermione not ever wanting to let me copy her, it was hard work. I just couldn't get my head around it.'

'Really?' Harry asked, as they waited by the portrait hole for Hermione. 'I did it in about an hour.'

'Yeah well,' Ron said. 'You've become Hermione-lite.'

'I haven't,' Harry said brusquely. 'I've just had a good reason to study harder. What with the whole Voldemort prophecy thing...'

Ron shuddered at the mention of Voldemort, but recovered quickly.

'Try not to piss off Snape today though,' he said quickly. 'We've got Quidditch practice remember? It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin in two weeks. Katie'll go spare if you miss it.'

'We've got a good team this year,' Harry mused. 'I'm actually glad Katie got the captaincy and not me.'

Ron stared at him.

'What?' Ron breathed, thunderstruck. 'You didn't want the captaincy?'

'Not really,' Harry said shortly. 'What with the prophecy and preparing to fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters, it would have taken up too much time.'

Ron's confused and astonished expression softened slightly.

'When you put it that way,' Ron muttered. 'Still, with the team we've got, we're bound to be favourites for the cup this year.'

Harry nodded as Hermione came running down the stairs from the girl's dormitory. She kissed Harry and together she, Harry and Ron made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The day passed with mundane repetitiveness. Defence Against the Dark Arts was spent in silence. Harry avoided Snape's gaze and tried not to draw any attention to himself. Luckily, Snape seemed hell-bent on ignoring Harry too.

It was with relief that Harry and Ron made their way down to the Quidditch pitch for training, leaving Hermione in the company of a good book and Crookshanks by the fire in the common room.

The training session was exactly what Harry and Ron needed. By the end of it, both of them were tired but felt extremely loose and strangely carefree. They trudged back up to the castle with the rest of the team and everyone was in high spirits.

As soon as they reached the cosy warmth of the common room, however, Harry immediately knew something was wrong.

'Where's Hermione?' Harry asked Ron, his voice sharp and strangely panicky.

'Don't know,' Ron replied. 'She's probably gone to bed.'

'Ginny,' Harry called, and the red-headed girl turned to face him. 'Can you check to see if Hermione's in her dormitory for me please?'

'Sure,' Ginny called and she disappeared up the stairs. Within a minute, she was back down.

'She's not there,' she called. 'Maybe she went to the library. There's still about fifteen minutes until curfew.'

Harry nodded and turned to Ron.

'I'm going to look for her,' Harry said.

'Want me to come with?' Ron asked.

'No,' Harry said. 'I don't want you being involved if I have to hex someone.'

Ron nodded.

'Don't go easy on them,' Ron called, but Harry never heard him. He had already gone back through the portrait hole.

Harry headed through the castle, his wand tip lit, towards the library. When he reached it, Madam Pince was tapping the lock with her wand.

'Madam Pince,' Harry called out. She jumped a little.

'What do you want Potter?' Madam Pince asked huffily.

'Have you seen Hermione?'

'Miss Granger left the library about an hour ago,' she sniffed. 'Good night.'

She stalked off and Harry cursed under his breath.

Why hadn't he grabbed the Marauder's Map? That would've made the most sense. Then he'd known exactly where Hermione was.

Harry was so preoccupied that he hadn't noticed where he was going. A noise from behind Harry startled him.

'Well, well, well,' a cold voice drawled. 'If it isn't the Forgetful One.'

Harry spun around. Malfoy was leaning against a wall, a sneering grin on his face.

'Where is she Malfoy?' Harry growled through clenched teeth.

'Where's who?' Malfoy asked, irritatingly.

'Hermione,' Harry growled, his wand immediately flying up to point at Malfoy's face.

'Now, now, Potter,' Malfoy drawled. 'No more cursing, or you'll be in trouble. Dumbledore told me that if I left you and Granger alone, you'd stop cursing me.'

'I only agreed to not curse you as long as you leave us alone,' Harry spat. 'I know you know where Hermione is.'

'Actually,' Malfoy said slowly. 'I don't know where the Mudblood is. Sorry to disappoint you Potter.'

'Tell me where she is!' Harry shouted. He didn't care if teachers appeared. The inexplicable panic in his chest was starting to constrict his heart.

'Can't you understand me Potter?' Malfoy goaded. 'I've already told you I don't know where that Mudblood is.'

'Disorginio,' Harry shouted, but Malfoy was ready. He dived out of the way just in time.

'Rictusempra!' Malfoy bawled.

Harry parried it with a wave of his wand. His next spell slammed into the wall just above Malfoy's head. Wood and brick dust showered Malfoy as he cowered.

'I don't know where she is,' Malfoy shouted, panic evident in his voice. 'I don't know where she is!'

Harry flung a curse towards Malfoy. It rocketed into the wall, mere inches from Malfoy's left ear.

'Please,' he whimpered. 'I don't know where she is.'

Harry strode over to Malfoy, pulled him to his feet and pushed him into the wall.

'Tell me,' Harry growled. He was like a ravenous animal. Malfoy opened and closed his mouth rapidly, but words never escaped his throat.

'Tell me,' Harry urged, slamming Malfoy back into the wall.

Suddenly, four strong hands pried him away from Malfoy and propelled him halfway across the hallway.

Harry rolled over backwards, but his reflexes were ready. He finally stopped rolling and his wand was pointing in Malfoy's direction. Crabbe and Goyle were stood in front of Malfoy, like large human shields. They cracked their knuckles menacingly and advanced on Harry.

'Protego,' Harry thought and immediately a shield erupted between himself and Crabbe and Goyle. They bounced off it with two loud gong-like sounds.

'Expulso,' Malfoy shrieked and the vase behind Harry exploded.

'Confringo,' Harry countered, just as Malfoy shouted another curse.

'Impedimenta!'

A ball of flame seemed to erupt extremely slowly in mid-air between them. As soon as it reached it's largest point, it sputtered into nothingness.

'Obsucro,' Malfoy yelled but Harry blasted him backwards with an Impediment Jinx.

Crabbe and Goyle had pulled their wands out now.

'Stupefy,' Crabbe said, his voice a low grunt. Harry dodged it, and hit him in the chest with a Revulsion Jinx. Before Goyle could do anything, he too had been blasted onto his back.

Harry strode over to Malfoy, knelt down beside him and put the tip of his wand underneath Malfoy's chin.

'Where is she?' Harry growled.

'I-i-i-i don't know,' Malfoy stammered. 'I really don't know Potter.'

Harry's green eyes bore into Malfoy's grey ones, as he tried to see of any deception. Not seeing anything, Harry slowly stood up. He turned to walk away.

'I know where we left her,' Malfoy said slyly.

Harry whirled around. Malfoy was standing up and panting heavily.

'I'm not sure what happened after we handed the Mudblood over to my father's friends, but they were so happy to see her.'

Harry ran at Malfoy and tackled him to the ground. Fists connected with flesh and bone and Malfoy began howling in pain. Harry only stopped when Malfoy's face was a bloody, pulpy mess. He pointed his wand into Malfoy's face.

'Legilimens,' he said.

At once, Harry found himself in the Entrance Hall. He turned around to see Hermione struggling in Crabbe and Goyle's grip. Crabbe had his hand over her mouth, and a bruise was forming over her left eye. Harry's blood began to boil, as he watched Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle frogmarch Hermione out of the castle, through the grounds and into the Forbidden Forest. They walked a fair distance and Harry began to recognise the route as the same one that led to Aragog's lair.

He was helpless as he watched Crabbe tie Hermione to an oak tree. Malfoy laughed and jeered at her, as Goyle snuck in a backhanded slap across her face. To her credit, she didn't cry. She didn't even shout, but Harry could see the determination and anger on her face. Then, his vision went blank and Harry felt himself being extricated from Malfoy's mind. He blinked and found himself back in the hallway. He bolted to his feet and ran through the castle and exploded through the front doors.

Harry sprinted as fast as he could through the dark grounds, his lit wand tip providing an unsteady source of light. Within moments, he had torn into the forest, flat out. He leapt over fallen trees and tall bushes, running along the same route Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had taken Hermione. In the pale wand light, Harry could, ever so briefly, see gouge marks in the soft ground, where she had clearly dug her heels.

Harry reached a clearing, out of breath, but ready to fight. He heard something. It was voices and laughter. He crept through the trees and foliage towards the sounds and saw five figures surrounding a pale Hermione. They were laughing and aiming their wands towards her. They would fire loud bangs at the ground around her, Hermione would flinch and they would laugh even harder. Harry's knuckles whitened as his grip on his wand tightened. He could see their faces in the conjured firelight. Dolohov, Rookwood, Avery, Rowle and Travers.

Hermione closed her eyes as a particularly loud bang erupted near her. She breathed in deeply, and the Death Eaters stared at her, confused.

'What is she doing?' Rowle asked, but Travers shook his head.

'Not a clue. Muggles are weird. That's why they need to be stamped out.'

'You reckon we'll be able to leave soon?' Avery asked. 'I'm getting hungry.'

'You and your stomach,' snarled Dolohov. 'Where's the loyalty to the Dark Lord?'

'I'm loyal,' snapped Avery. 'I'm just bloody hungry, is all.'

Travers sniggered.

'It's a shame you're not Greyback, Avery,' he said. 'Otherwise we could feed you this Muggle.'

Harry snapped. His vision went red, and there was an odd ringing in his ears. Golden energy seemed to crackle all over his body. He burst into the clearing and his wand slashed through the air. Golden bolts of energy burst from his wand. His eyes seemed to emit a faint golden light, which was enough to obscure the emerald green.

In a couple of heart stopping moments, all five Death Eaters had been blasted to the ground. Harry raced over to Hermione. He blasted the ropes binding her to the tree apart and pulled her into a tight hug. Hermione kissed him. It was full of longing and emotion. Tears were streaking down Hermione's cheeks and wetted both faces.

As their lips broke apart, a strand of golden energy left Harry's mouth and entered Hermione's. She glowed for a split-second, and they opened their eyes.

Harry had returned to normal. He wasn't glowing any more and his eyes had returned to their usual green. However, his heart was still pounding ferociously against his ribs. He was still scared. Hermione detached herself from his yearning grip and walked over to the nearest Death Eater. She checked for a pulse.

'He's alive,' she said bitterly. 'Just. We need to get back to the castle and tell someone. Come on.'

She walked back over to him, grabbed his hand and began to lead him towards the edge of the forest and the grounds. It was a longer journey back to the castle than it had been into the forest. Hermione and Harry held onto each other for dear life.

Eventually, they made it back to the castle and were greeted by Professors McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore. It was hard to tell who was more angry, McGonagall or Snape. Harry's hands were still bruised and bloody. He fully expected to feel the full weight of repercussions of his actions, but he wasn't going to repent. He felt wholly justified in attacking Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle and the five Death Eaters in the forest. Hermione had been in real danger.

'Potter, Granger,' McGonagall hissed as they approached. 'Explain yourselves!'

'That won't be necessary,' Dumbledore interjected before either Harry or Hermione could speak. 'I believe I know what has transpired tonight. May I?'

Harry and Hermione looked up at him blankly and he took that as an affirmation to continue.

'Well, I am under the impression that Messrs Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle managed to apprehend and abduct Miss Granger. They took her into the Forbidden Forest where Mr Potter found her. Am I missing anything?'

Yes,' Harry said shortly. 'There were five Death Eaters. Avery, Dolohov, Rowle, Travers and Rookwood. I cursed them. They're still in the forest. If you follow the route to Aragog's lair, then you should find them.'

'Severus, please attend to them,' Dumbledore said.

Snape nodded and billowed down the steps and through the grounds, his wand in the air and the tip alight.

'How did Death Eaters manage to get into the grounds?' Professor McGonagall asked.

'I'm not sure,' Dumbledore mused softly. 'The security should have been enough to keep out any of Lord Voldemort's servants.'

Harry gently squeezed Hermione's hand and lightly tugged her along as he made to go back into the castle.

'Where are you going Mister Potter?' McGonagall asked sharply.

'I'm going to bed. Hermione too. We are very tired.' Harry's tone was as blunt as McGonagall's.

'I suggest a night in the hospital wing,' Dumbledore said. 'Have Madam Pomfrey look at your hand and check over Miss Granger.'

'No,' Harry said. His hand was starting to ache and he could feel the adrenalin beginning to wear off. 'I am going to bed. Hermione will stay the night with me.'

'I don't...' McGonagall began, but an uncharacteristically withering gaze stopped her in her tracks.

'It wasn't a request,' Harry said coldly before turning to face Dumbledore. 'I told you that I would protect Hermione at all costs. Punish me however you see fit. I will not repent. I could have lost her tonight. Malfoy should be glad that I used basic curses. I could have done far more damage.'

Without another word, Harry walked up the steps and into the castle, Hermione following him, her hand still clamped like a vice around his. Together, they walked through the castle and up to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry gave her the password and helped Hermione through the hole in the wall. They walked through the silent and deserted common room and up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. As Harry opened the door, he saw Ron who was still awake.

'What happened?' Ron asked in a whisper. Dean, Neville and Seamus were fast asleep.

Harry didn't reply for a moment. He led Hermione to his bed and she gratefully clambered in. He pulled the covers over her, kissed her on the forehead and pulled the curtains shut. He motioned for Ron to follow him, and they both left the dormitory and stood in the small corridor.

'Hermione was abducted by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. They took her into the Forest where five Death Eaters were waiting to take her to Voldemort. I was lucky that they were waiting. I'm not sure why or what for, but I got her back.'

'What happened to your hand?'

'Malfoy's a mess,' he said simply and without regret. 'They attacked me. I subdued them and beat the truth out of that fucking git.'

'You beat...' Ron repeated, his voice a little hoarse. 'You actually beat the truth out of him? Why not just use magic?'

'I could have used an Unforgivable,' Harry mused and Ron chuckled humourlessly.

'Not what I meant mate,' he muttered. 'Like use a few spells to make him feel more pain? Maybe a cutting curse to the thigh?'

'I wasn't exactly thinking straight.'

'Understandable. What happened after you made Malfoy tell you?'

'I went after Hermione. She was in the forest and tied up to a tree. Dolohov, Travers, Rowle, Avery and Rookwood were there. Avery was moaning about how hungry he was and Travers said about feeding her to Greyback.'

Ron's mouth dropped open.

'He wouldn't...'

'I lost it after that,' Harry continued. 'I ran in there and blasted them all with hexes. I freed Hermione and brought her back to the castle. Ran into McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore. He seemed to know what happened. Snape went after the Death Eaters and I'm pretty sure that McGonagall's going to be pissed at me.'

'Why?'

'I told her that Hermione would be sleeping with me tonight.'

'And, by sleeping, you mean...' Ron said suggestively.

'Sleeping,' Harry said firmly. 'Now you're caught up, I'm going to bed. I might need to visit the hospital wing in the morning. My hand is starting to hurt a lot.'

Ron nodded and followed Harry back into the dormitory. Harry didn't even undress or bid Ron goodnight. He slipped into his bed next to Hermione and waved his wand, causing the curtains to swish shut. Hermione wasn't asleep. Her eyes were wide awake and she stared into Harry's green eyes. There was a faint outline of gold around his emerald pupils that she had never seen before.

Harry noticed something too. Hermione's soft brown eyes had a hint of gold about them that he didn't remember seeing before. He leant forward kissed her forehead and pulled her close. She started to cry slightly, and Harry whispered consolations to her and comforted her as best he could. They fell asleep in each other's arms.

It was five days later before anyone saw Malfoy again. He, Crabbe and Goyle swaggered into the Great Hall at breakfast and made a beeline for the Slytherin table. Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't look up from their breakfasts, but Harry's hand flexed a little as if it was itching to withdraw his wand from his pocket.

Hermione's hand snaked into Harry's as she lifted a slice of buttered toast to her mouth. He squeezed it gently and they continued to eat in silence. As a distant bell rang, signalling the start of lessons, they stood up from the Gryffindor table and exited the hall. They were cornered on the marble staircase by Urquhart, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson.

Hermione's wand was out of her pocket a split second before Harry's or Ron's.

'Stupefy,' she shouted and a bolt of red energy blasted Urquhart onto his back.

'Protego,' Harry snapped and a shimmering shield of golden energy erupted in front of Hermione, blocking Pansy's Reducto curse.

Ron flicked his wand and blasted Goyle onto his back. From nowhere, Malfoy appeared with Millicent Bulstrode, Blaise Zabini and a fifth year that Harry didn't know.

Harry blocked their curses and spells, while Hermione disarmed Crabbe. Ron blocked a curse from Pansy, just as Ginny, Neville and Luna stormed into the Entrance Hall to help.

'Enough,' Harry roared. 'Stupefy Maxima!'

He jabbed his wand into the air and a bolt of energy blasted into the air before exploding outwards. Harry cast shield charms around himself, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna. Malfoy, Parkinson, Bulstrode, Zabini and the unknown fifth year were knocked to the ground.

'Wow Harry,' Neville breathed. 'That was insane.'

'You couldn't have led with that?' Ron demanded. 'I nearly got caught out by a Flagrante Curse from Parkinson.'

'What is the meaning of this?'

They wheeled around. Professor McGonagall was standing in the doorway of the Great Hall, an irate expression on her face.

'We were cornered by the Slytherins,' Harry said. 'We defended ourselves. Neville, Ginny and Luna came to help...'

'Not that Harry really needed it,' Ron muttered under his breath. 'I still wish he'd led with that awesome mass stunner spell. Where did he learn it anyway?'

Professor Dumbledore strode into the Entrance Hall and surveyed the scene before him. His gaze locked onto Harry's for a moment. Harry immediately cleared his mind, ready to stop Dumbledore from using Legilimens.

'Mister Malfoy wanted revenge I take it?' Dumbledore asked softly. 'Professor McGonagall please revive these students and send them to the Hospital Wing. Please advise Madam Pomfrey that they are to stay there until I arrive to speak to them. Fifty points shall be deducted from Slytherin for this incident. Harry, a moment?'

Harry nodded and followed Dumbledore into a nearby classroom.

'I must say that you do seem to know how to attract trouble,' Dumbledore said.

'They attacked us,' Harry started. 'It was...'

'I know it was self defence. I had a feeling that Mister Malfoy did not heed my advice. He seemed to barely listen. I believed that he would have learnt by now not to attack you or your friends.'

Harry mumbled something about Malfoy always having a thick skull and Dumbledore chuckled.

'Well,' he said. 'That may be true, but I do feel that stronger measures are needed. How is your own mission coming along? Now that our Occlumency lessons are seemingly coming at an end...'

'What?' Harry asked, confused. 'Why?'

'I knew that you immediately cleared your mind and prepared yourself for Legilimency,' Dumbledore said. 'I must say it was brilliant.'

Harry frowned bemusedly up at him.

'What do you mean?' Harry asked.

'I did silently use Legilimens on you Harry, but I could only see the man standing in front of me. No memories, feelings or any other mind-related things were revealed. You seem to have mastered it.'

'But Voldemort won't be going nice and easy on me,' Harry said quickly. 'He'll be trying to destroy my mind.'

'Forgive me, but that may have been the point that Severus was trying to make,' Dumbledore said carefully. 'I will not argue that his methods were... Ill-conceived, but he tried to teach you as if it were Voldemort attacking your mind. However, do not feel at a disadvantage. I am, if I may say, a very accomplished Legilimens and haven't been "going nice and easy" on you. I have full faith in your ability to resist attempts by Voldemort to invade your mind.'

Harry visibly relaxed.

'Good,' he said. 'Err, I should really be getting to Charms. Professor Flitwick doesn't like it when students are late.'

'No, he doesn't,' Dumbledore agreed. 'Very well. We will have one final lesson tonight, and then I believe that you'll put your nights to better use?'

He had a twinkle in his eye, that for some unknown reason, made Harry blush slightly. Harry nodded and excused himself. He raced up the marble staircase and through the castle and was fifteen minutes late for Charms, when he burst in.

'Please take a seat Potter,' Professor Flitwick said squeakily. 'We're practising the Gouging Spell today. Miss Granger will undoubtedly fill you in.'

'Sorry I'm late Professor,' Harry gushed quickly. 'I was talking to Professor Dumbledore.'

Flitwick hummed and nodded. Harry made his way over to Ron and Hermione and sat down between them. There were three large boulders on the desk. Hermione quickly brought Harry up to speed on the Gouging Spell and it's incantation.

'Defodio,' Harry said, pointing his wand at the boulder in front of him.

Immediately, a large chunk of rock vanished from his boulder. He easily disposed of his boulder, as did Hermione. Ron did fairly well too, managing to gouge away at least eighty percent of it by the end of the lesson.

'So,' Ron said as they packed away their things at the end of the lesson. 'Where did you learn that cool mass stunner? Also, why didn't you start with that?'

'I didn't fire the first curse,' Harry reminded him. 'That was Hermione.'

'I saw Urquhart start to pull out his wand,' she said sniffly. 'I did what I thought was best.'

Harry and Ron laughed. As they left the classroom, Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's and kissed the top of her head.

'Hello Ronald,' a dreamy voice said from nowhere, making all three of them jump.

'Oh,' Ron said, going slightly red around the ears. 'Hi Luna.'

'How are you?' Luna asked. 'I saw that you nearly got hit by a curse.'

'Well,' Ron said, sounding offish. 'It was close, but I was ready to deflect it if I needed too.'

Harry chuckled into Hermione's hair, and she turned into Harry, smiling. They left Ron and Luna to talk and carried on towards the Great Hall. As they entered, whispers started all around them. They ignored the slight hiss as they passed the Slytherin table. As soon as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Seamus leant in towards them.

'I heard you took out Malfoy and seven other Slytherins out with ONE spell,' he whispering, clearly awed.

'I learnt a mass stunning spell,' Harry said dismissively. 'It was nothing.'

'Still cool,' Seamus said. 'Like mega-cool.'

Hermione raised her eyebrows and grinned slightly at Seamus and Dean, who was nodding in agreement at Seamus' words. Harry chuckled and doled some casserole onto Hermione's plate, before serving himself. They ate in relative silence. Harry had to brush off a few more questions, mostly from an overexcited Colin Creevey, before finishing his meal in peace with Hermione. As soon as they stood to leave, Ron collapsed onto the bench next to them.

'What took you so long?' Hermione asked, but Harry frowned.

Ron's ears had turned red, and there was a slightly dumbstruck look on his face. Harry turned around to look over at the Ravenclaw table and saw Luna serenely eating her dinner. She had a slight smile on her dreamy face. Harry suppressed a grin with a lot of difficulty.

'Come on,' he said coaxingly to Hermione, while snaking his arm around her waist. 'I'll explain it to you on the way to the common room.'

He clapped Ron on the shoulder and guided Hermione out of the Great Hall.

'So,' Hermione pushed as soon as they were on the first floor. 'What happened?'

'I think Luna likes Ron,' Harry said. 'As he likes her too, she might have forced the issue.'

'Huh,' Hermione said thoughtfully. 'So she kissed him?'

'Probably,' Harry grinned and Hermione giggled.

They reached the Fat Lady, gave her the password and climbed through the portrait hole. Sitting down in front of the fire, Harry and Hermione started on their Charms homework. Ron appeared about an hour later, still as dumbfounded as before.

'She kissed you then,' Hermione said, not looking up from her essay.

'She, she, she,' Ron said absently as he collapsed into an armchair next to them, but he almost instantly lulled into silence.

'Did you like it?' Hermione asked, still not looking up from her essay. She sounded so clinical.

Ron didn't answer. Harry stared at him, an amused expression on his face.

'She kissed-,' he started but was interrupted by Ginny.

'Hello Ron,' she said airily, flashing a grin at Harry. 'How's Luna?'

'Err,' Ron said, startled.

Harry, Hermione and Ginny couldn't help it. They broke out into fits of hysterical laughter at Ron's deer-in-the-headlights expression. Ginny eventually recovered enough to fix Ron with a stern glare.

'Now, are you going to ask her out?'

'Who?' Ron asked dazedly.

'Luna,' Ginny stressed. 'Are you going to ask her out?'

'Well,' Ron said slowly. 'I mean...'

He faltered slightly at the thunderous look of outrage on his sister's face.

'She already asked me out,' Ron said softly.

Ginny's thunderous outrage turned to delight in a blink of an eye. She squealed happily.

'Where are you going to take her?'

'Hang on, hang on,' Ron said measuredly. 'She asked me, so I have no idea what we're doing.'

'You need to figure it out Ron,' Hermione said, her concentration back on her Charms essay. 'She might have asked you out, but she'll definitely expect you to have a plan.'

'Okay,' Ron said slowly, as he tried to think of a good first date. 'How about Hogsmeade?'

'There isn't another Hogsmeade weekend for another month,' Ginny said dismissively.

'Take her for a walk,' Harry said simply. 'Just go for a walk and actually talk to her. Take a picnic too.'

Hermione looked at Harry, startled.

'That's a brilliant idea,' she breathed.

'Why so surprised?' Harry asked and he chuckled. 'I'm not that bad.'

'Never said you were,' Hermione said. 'I'm just surprised that you thought so much about it.'

'Didn't,' Harry replied simply. 'I told Ron to talk to her ages ago.'

'Huh,' Hermione said thoughtfully before returning to her essay.

Harry snaked his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her into a hug. She giggled and let her essay slid off the table and onto the floor. Harry tickled her ribs and Hermione's squeals of delight filled his ears. For a moment, Harry was lost in Hermione's and his own laughter. Then an extreme pain shot through his scar and he cried out. His hands leapt to his forehead and Hermione scrambled away from him.

The pain was blinding him. Harry started to shudder and shake. Hermione tentatively reached out but Harry started to convulse. He fell off the couch, his scar still searing with pain. He roared in agony as the pain in his head reached a new zenith.

It seemed like an instant, but Harry opened his eyes. He could immediately tell that he wasn't in the Gryffindor common room. There was a sterility in the air. He blinked heavily, his vision blurry. He sat up and heard Hermione gasp. He grabbed his glasses and hurriedly put them on.

'Where's Dumbledore?' Harry asked Hermione. He had started to shiver and shake in fear. 'Where is he?'

'I'm here Harry,' Dumbledore said as he walked into the Hospital Wing. 'What's wrong?'

'Voldemort!' Harry shouted, panic-stricken. 'He's going to attack?'

'Attack?' Hermione asked. 'Where?'

There was one word that had been lodged in his brain since his scar had first hurt.

'Hogwarts!'


End file.
